Child of Two Worlds
by princess-kidatheart17
Summary: Fauna, a 9 year old human child, is kidnapped and sent into another universe by an evil mastermind. Stuck in the animal city of Zootopia, Fauna meets Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps, two officers who offers to help her go back home. But what will they do when the dangerous malefactor responsible for Fauna's kidnapping threathens to destroy both dimensions? Judy/Nick if I feel like it.
1. The Night Everything Changed

**Hello fellow readers! Riri here! :)**

 **So this is my first fanfiction ever on this site! I really loved the movie** _ **Zootopia**_ **so I decided to do a fanfic! Now, in the first teaser for the movie, it's said that humans never existed in the universe of Zootopia.**

 **Now since anything can happen in fanfictions, let's see about that... mwahahahaha :)**

 **Enjoy!**

 ****I DO NOT OWN ZOOTOPIA. I ONLY OWN MY OCS****

* * *

 **Fauna P.O.V**

"Daddy, why do I have to come?"

"Because, honey, it's important for the history of humanity!"

"Can humanity wait until the end of the documentary on cheetahs? I don't want to miss my show!"

My daddy laughed: "You'll just register the episode, and see it tonight, okay?"

"If you say so, daddy!"

I said, leaning my head back against the window of the car as my father kept driving.

My name is Fauna Delfino. I'm 9 years old.

I've always considered myself a little... _different_ from the other kids. While they always play tag or with a ball, I prefer to stay alone in the little forest behind my school yard. It's so peaceful there, and while there is some other kids that play hide and seek, I can actually have a pit of peace. In the forest, I enjoy the nature and I talk to the animals I see, like squirrels, birds, chipmunks, as if they would actually answer me. I know they won't, but I really love animals. Because of that, everyone calls me 'the freak-show' at school, not only since I talk to animals, but also because of my load of curly brown hair that looks like a lion's mane, my eyes of different colors (grey/blue with green specks) and my choice of clothing (I love to wear skirts over jeans, yet people don't seem to like that). So I don't have a lot of friends. In fact, I just don't have friends. But I don't care.

"We're almost there, sweetie." my father said. At this moment, he was bringing me at his laboratory.

Jay Delfino. That's my father. He's a famous scientist. His face is always everywhere on the newspapers, and my teachers only know me as _'Jay Delfino's daughter'_ , as if they forgot I actually have a name, which is Fauna. When he works, my daddy's papers have really complicated numbers and letters written on them. Yet, I understand them perfectly. Why? While all the kids of my age struggle at math, I've always been... sort of an expert in that subject, thanks to my dad.

Another reason to be picked on at school.

What else can I say about my dad? He's very tall, has perfectly cut short black hair that's turning grey, blue eyes, wears glasses, he loves steaks, hates everything that is not science, speaks with professional-sounding weird science words and I almost never see him, since he works all the time at the laboratory.

Before, mommy would stay with me at home, but she left for a trip when I was little (well, more little than I am right now) and she's still out there. Mommy is a veterinarian. Her name is Lenore. She has curly brown hair, just like me, and grey eyes. Everybody says that I am a mini version of her, if you count out my eyes of different color and the freckles all over my face. She's really nice and I miss her very much, but she will come back soon, I know it. Her trip to take care of the animals in the jungle can't be forever. But a while after she left us, daddy gradually stopped talking about her. He works more and more and leaves me all alone.

Well, not _totally_ alone. I have a baby sitter, but she doesn't take consideration of my existence, she just watches the TV all the time. And I don't mind. Because during that time, I'm in my own world. I go in my room, and play with my friends. By 'friends', I refer to the animal plushies my mother gave me. I would pretend to be a vet, treat their injuries and give them a big hug. And afterwards, I would put clothes on them and pretend they were talking back at me.

I loved being in my room. It was the only place where I could be at peace.

I want to be a veterinarian like mommy when I'm an adult. But daddy wants me to be like him. A scientist. Just because I'm good at math, he says 'I have a good potential'. The only moments I see him is when he brings me to his laboratory, but I don't really like it here!

And today, he brings me here. To show me what already?

"Something really cool you will surely appreciate."

That doesn't say a lot...

Dad stopped the car and I got out, closing the door behind me. I played with my necklace. My mom gave it to me: a silver necklace with a tiny blue dolphin in crystal. That's what she always called me: her little dolphin.

When will she come back?

I walked hand in hand with my dad. The huge glass science building had a lot of people inside, most of them wearing white laboratory coats and talking to eachother with an incomprehensive vocabulary.

"Why is there a lot of people, daddy?"

"It's because I invented a machine, and we'll present it to them!"

"Really? What does it do?"

"It's a surprise!"

I whined: "I hate when you say that! Come on, tell me! Is it a time machine?"

He pretended to be deep in thought: "Mmm... not really."

"Does it transform humans into animals?"

"Nope."

"Transform animals into humans?"

He laughed: "No animals involved, sweetie."

"But I love animals!"

"I know, sweetie." he smiled.

"Just like mommy."

Daddy sighed. I stopped talking. Why won't he talk about mommy? She will eventually come back. After a moment of walking into a huge room with a speech table with lots of microphones on it, that was facing a thousand of people with microphones and notebooks.

"Woah!"

I was impressed by the size of a huge cylinder thing covered by a white cloth standing behind the speech table.

"Is that the machine?" I asked my dad.

He nodded: "Yup!"

"Tell me, daddy! What does it do?"

Before he could tell me, a blonde woman tapped my father on his shoulder:

"Hey, Jay!" she said with a nasal voice.

"Hey, Nancy!"

"How are you?"

"Oh, a little nervous for the presentation... but we worked a lot of time on it, right?"

"Yeah... oh, you must be Fauna."

She kneeled to be at my height. I hate when adults do that, it makes me feel even smaller than I already am!

"I'm Nancy, nice to meet you."

I didn't answer.

"Oh, she's shy!" she said in a honeyed voice tone.

No I'm not shy, I just don't feel like talking to you because you have an annoying voice.

Daddy started to talk to Nancy. And it's like if he forgot I was here. He was talking and laughing with her. I frowned. They tagged along well... _too well_. What does he think, that he can forget mommy like this?! I don't want this stranger to be my new mommy! I already have a mommy, and she will come back! And anyway, that Nancy with her annoying voice is not even that funny! And mommy is prettier than her!

When Dad wasn't looking, I walked away and went into a door on the other side of the huge room. I was walking into a hall, but after a while, I realized the building was bigger than I thought and I got lost. I opened the door of a random room, hoping to find an adult that will help me find my way back. I walked into the room, until I gasped and smiled.

They were rows of cages. And inside, there were lots of animals! Monkeys, white rats, dogs and a few baby domestic pigs... and little white bunnies! I love rabbits!

How come daddy never brought me here?

I was walking, looking at the animals, until I stopped by a cage, when a white rat was laying there. He looked at me with his red eyes, and his nose twitched.

"Hey there, little rat. You don't look so good..." I talked it. "I'm gonna call you Ruby."

"Fauna?"

I looked back: it was a lady I didn't know, but she knew my name. Probably because of she knew my dad.

"Why do the animals look sad?" I asked her.

"They're not sad. They may be a little... tired."

"Why?"

"It's because we use them in our experiments." she approached me and I could read her name tag on her scientist coat: Diana.

"What do you mean?" I frowned at her.

"Well... we test our products on rats, rabbits, dogs and monkeys, so we can see if they're okay to humans..."

"Wait, you mean... you _hurt_ them?"

"What? No... well, probably. But that's okay. It's for science. And anyway, they're just animals." she said as if it was okay!

I looked at Diana with a flabbergasted face: " _Just animals?!_ They have feelings too! A-And they can still feel pain! Just because they can't talk, doesn't mean they're not like us!"

She sighed: "Oh sweetie, I'm sure of it..."

You big liar!

"... but we don't have the choice. Now I'm gonna ask you to leave. Your daddy will present soon, and I'm sure he'd want you to be there!"

I sent her an angry glare, and looked back at the poor animals that were locked in their cages, all sad and hurt. That won't happen like that!

Is daddy even aware of that? Mommy wouldn't like it!

Diana opened the door so I could get out. When we were outside the room, I hugged her: "Please, miss! You got to use another solution! Don't hurt the animals!"

She sighed and kneeled on my height level. Ugh, why do adults feel the need to do that? It's annoying!

"Oh, sweetie... I would love to, but... I can't. Do you want me to bring you back at your father?" she asked me on a voice tone as if I was 5.

"No, it's okay. I know my way." I said.

On this, she left; closing the door behind her to be sure I wouldn't go back in it. What she didn't know, is that I stole the keys from her pockets when I hugged her.

Hehe. What an idiot.

I opened the door with one of the keys and walked towards all the cages with a smile, twirling the ring holding the keys around my finger.

"You're all free!"

* * *

 **Third Person**

When Jay was done talking with Nancy, he realized Fauna was gone.

"Where is Fauna?"

He walked around: "Has anyone seen my daughter?"

He kept repeating and repeating this sentence, but everybody shook their heads no.

"Jay, it's gonna be time to present..." a scientist told him.

"Okay. If you see my daughter, keep an eye on her."

Jay walked up front, facing a bunch of journalist, and the cylindrical machine hidden by the cloth behind him. The scientist was worried about Fauna, but he tried as best as he could to concentrate about the speech he trained so much for: "Are we really the only ones in this universe? That's a question we've been asking ourselves since the beginning of times. The answer? Who knows, maybe. But I am only referring to this universe. With the help of my fellow scientists, I have _confirmed_ the theory of the multiverse!"

A lot of journalists asked questions as photographs took pictures of Jay.

"So there are chances of other possible types of life other than us?" a female journalist asked.

"Exactly."

"Is there any physical proof of your belief?" a man asked.

"For the moment, no. But we do have... _this_."

On this, Jay pulled the white cloth which revealed a machine that looked straight out of a sci-fi movie, but this was reality.

Everybody was impressed. At the same moment, a frantic Fauna came into the hall. She has just freed to animals, and they didn't follow her as she thought they would and all escaped in different directions, and she wanted to tell her dad about it. But as she walked to reach the front where her father was talking, she got also curious about the machine standing behind her father.

"What does this machine do?" a man asked.

"It gives you the ability to travel into another dimension. We have found other universes that have a compatibility of travel with our own!" Jay answered.

"Wooooah..." Fauna whispered to herself.

"Have you tested it?" a woman asked.

"Yes. On trained monkeys and dogs. At least 10/20 has came back. The thing is we need to find a type of camera that works in the alternative universe to bring a proper proof-"

Fauna gasped when Ruby, the little white rat, ran between her feet and towards a woman.

"Uh oh..." Fauna whispered.

The woman shrieked when she saw the rat crawling on her shoe, and at the moment people were asking themselves what was going on, the press conference was interrupted when animals bursted into the hall. People were shouting as bunnies were jumping everywhere trying to escape, monkeys were throwing things, dogs were jumping on people and rats were scaring the journalists into jumping on chairs.

It was a real mess. Security was able to have a hold of the situation after a while by calming down the people and capturing the animals on the loose, but panic took hold of the science hall.

Diana climbed on the stage next to an appalled Jay.

"What's going on? How did they get out?" he asked refering to the test animals, clearly confused and shocked.

"S-She freed the animals. I... I... she stole the keys, if I only I-"

"Wait a minute, Diana... _who_?"

Diana turned her head in the middle of the hall. Jay followed her glare and that's when he spotted his daughter with a lot of white rats in her arms.

He frowned: "FAUNA DELFINO!" he yelled in anger as he walked out under the confused eyes of everyone.

Diana took the microphone: "That's all we've got for the moment. Please don't panic, we have a perfect hold of the situation..."

* * *

 **Fauna P.O.V**

"Ow! Dad, you're hurting me! Let go!"

Dad didn't let go of my arm. He dragged me into another room away from the science hall, and he closed the door roughly behind him: "Can you tell me what on _**earth**_ you were thinking?!"

"But dad-" I said, rubbing my sore arm.

"You embarrassed everyone, young lady. You embarrassed the press! You embarrassed my colleagues!"

"Would you just listen?"

"You embarrassed _me_! Can you even imagine the _damages_ you caused?"

"But dad-"

"WHAT were you thinking?! Why would you do that?! We need those animals, Fauna! And they were already sick before, and they could've bit someone and make _them_ sick?"

"Oh so, when a human is concerned, it matters more?"

He didn't listen: "All those lost animals, those broken propriety—it's all on me, can you understand that?!"

"WOULD YOU STOP TALKING ABOUT _YOURSELF_ FOR ONCE?!" I yelled.

"All that for what? For _stupid animals_!"

"Those 'stupid animals', like you say, are hurt! They deserve to be free!"

He huffed: "Give me a break."

"Mommy would agree with me! And you thought it too, before!"

"It doesn't matter anymore..."

"YES IT DOES! I LOVE ANIMALS! BUT YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT WHAT I WANT AND WHAT I NEED! YOU'RE ALWAYS OUT! YOU'RE NEVER THERE FOR ME! AND WHEN YOU ARE, ALL YOU TALK ABOUT IS YOUR STUPID SCIENCE!"

"You better watch your mouth, young lady-"

"OR ELSE, WHAT? I'M GONNA TALK, AND YOU'RE GONNA LISTEN! BECAUSE YOU NEVER DO! YOU NEVER LISTEN! I HATE SCIENCE, I HATE MATHS! I DON'T WANT TO BE LIKE YOU! I WANT TO BE LIKE MOMMY!"

" **YOUR MOMMY IS DEAD!"** he yelled in my face.

A thunderclap could be heard when I gasped and took a few steps back.

Dad was panting. I wasn't moving. There was a big uncomfortable moment of silence.

"W-What?"

Dad's face changed from mad to more sad: "Fauna, I... I didn't mean-"

"S-She's not dead. S-She left for a trip to help the animals... y-you told me she'd come back!"

Daddy sighed, rubbed his eyes and kneeled in front of me: "Sweetie. I wanted to tell you, but... not like this.

He took a deep breath and kept going: "After she left, when you were 6... I got a call, and..."

I shook my head from side to side: "No."

"The plane your mommy was taking to come back... crashed."

"No!"

"They looked for days, but... there was no sign of survivors."

Another thunderclap. The lights in the room flickered for a moment, but came back to normal. It was surely raining outside. Like in my heart.

Tears started to leak from my eyes: "NO! YOU'RE LYING! THAT'S ALL YOU EVER DO! LYING!"

"Fauna, please listen-"

He tried to grab my shoulders, but I struggled to get out of his grip.

"YOU'RE LYING! YOU JUST DON'T LOVE HER ANYMORE!"

"Fauna-"

I was crying without any control: "YOU NEVER DID! YOU ALWAYS LEFT US, MOMMY AND ME! AND YOU STILL DO EVEN WHEN SHE'S NOT HERE! PROBABLY TO SEE NANCY, UH? WHAT ABOUT ME? YOU DON'T EVEN CARE ABOUT ME! YOU'RE NOT MY DADDY, I HATE YOU! I WISH MOMMY WAS HERE INSTEAD OF YOU!"

I pushed him away and ran out of the room, crying.

"Fauna, wait!"

Daddy lied to me. He said mommy would come back. But my mommy was dead. She would _never_ come back. Never watch animal documentaries with me. I'll never see her smile or hear her sing me to sleep. I'll never hug her again and smell her perfume.

She was gone.

I ran back into the exposition room, sniffing and wiping my tears with my sleeve. It was raining outside and a lightning was seen briefly in the sky. Raindrops were tipping one by one against the windows of the glass walls of the building. The animals were back in their cages as there was no sign of them, and everybody was talking between them. I was walking through the bunch of people, to hide from my father. I didn't want to see him.

 _ ***CRASH***_

A loud sound that made the ground shake made me fall on my belly, making me groan in surprise. That was surely not the thunder.

Everybody screamed. I felt a dark shadow over me. I turned around when I heard a growl. My eyes widened and I screamed: " _AHHHHHHHH!"_

There was a big black beast behind me. It was standing on its hind legs. I don't know what this was, it looked like an ape, but it looked far more monstrous than a real ape. It was all black, had huge canines that was drooling over me and piercing red eyes.

I tried to stand up to run away, but the beast lift me up with only one hand: "AHHHH! PUT ME DOWN!"

I struggled but it was more stronger than I was.

"AAAAAAAHHHH!"

"FAUNA!"

The beast turned around at the voice.

"DADDY! HELP MEEEEE!"

The beast let out a low worrying chuckle: **"Long time no see, uh?"** he said in a deep voice that will surely give me nightmares.

My daddy opened his eyes widely in surprise: "Y-You!"

I was panting: "DADDY, I'M SCARED!"

"Let my daughter go!"

"You want her? Come and get her, Delfino!"

I shrieked when the beast jumped on the other side of the room, still holding me with one arm, crashing the speech table and the microphones, making everybody yell and run away.

"DADDY! DADDY! HEEEELP!" I kept screaming.

Suddenly, the monster threw me. I grunted in pain when I fell on the ground, and I looked around me.

He threw her inside my father's machine, and he slammed the door. I was panting, terrified. I stood up and banged against the door.

"OPEN UP! OPEN!"

"PLEASE, NO!" I heard my daddy say. I stood on my tippy toes to look through the window of the door. When my father tried to reach the machine, the monster slapped him so hard my father fell off the stage.

"DADDY!"

The ape fought a few guards, and smashed his fist down the panel control next to the machine. A lot of smoke was inside the machine and a high pitch sound threatened to burst my ears.

He let out an evil laugh and jumped out of the building by where he came from.

"DADDY! GET ME OUT OF HERE!" I banged against the door.

The ground was shaking from left to right. I couldn't even stand straight, so I grabbed unto the door to keep my balance. There was a lot of smoke everywhere. I coughed so hard I couldn't breathe. I felt dizzy. I kept banging against the door.

"DADDYYYyYyYyYyyy!" I banged against the door. I was crying. I was so afraid. I was gonna die.

A lot of light bursted in my eyes, making me yell in pain that I fell behind, banging my head on the floor, before darkness surrounded me.

* * *

 **Third Person**

"FAUNA!" Jay yelled, after the monstrous beast that has locked his daughter in his own machine left the place as fast as he came in.

"DADDY, GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

Jay heard his daughter call for him. He stood up and struggled to open the machine, but the door was locked. And the ape broke the panel control.

He couldn't do anything to pry his daughter out of the machine. But he refused to believe that.

An infernal noise came from the machine, and the ground was shaking so hard the whole building could feel it, and everyone in the room was screaming.

"STAND BACK!" a scientist yelled. He tackled Jay on the ground for safety as a lot of light bursted from the machine.

"DADDYYYyYyYyYyyy!"

That's the last word from Fauna that Jay heard.

When the noise stopped and the smoke was clearing, the scientists and journalists that didn't run away were coughing.

The weather has calmed. It was only lightly raining outside. But there was still a huge tension in the room.

After a few coughs, Jay was the first one to stand up, only his daughter on his mind. He was finally able to open the door of his machine, under the eyes of all the other scientists. The smoke cleared entirely.

"No... no... NO! FAUNAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Jay fell unto his knees.

The machine was empty. Fauna Delfino was gone.

* * *

 **So... this is it for my first chapter ever published! :D**

 **Yes, it** _ **is**_ **a Zootopia fanfic, so don't worry, Nick and Judy and the wonderful world of Zootopia will come next chapter ;)**

 **I hope the intro of Fauna's character and her father Jay was not too long.**

 **Anyways, I hope you enjoyed my intro, and see ya next chappie!**

 **Riri xx**


	2. Bolt From The Blue

The rain was pouring over Zootopia. The thunder was rumbling. A rough wind was blowing over the whole city, carrying the heavy rainfall with it. Going through the greenery of Rainforest District, to create sand storms in Sahara Square to ice pellets in Tundratown, it was a rather violent weather, pushing the anthropomorphic animal residents to run for cover from the current climate.

It was raining so hard you couldn't even see clearly what was in front of you. During that time, the windshield wipers of a police car were working on maximum speed as it was driving through the streets of Savanna Central, the 'heart' of Zootopia.

"Woah, I think Mother Nature is having a bad day…" a red-furred fox said from the passenger seat while drinking a cup of coffee. His name is Nicholas Wilde, but known as Nick by everyone. He used to be a full-time con-man, but after meeting his now partner, in which he helped for an important case that saved the city, she convinced him to join the force, making him the first fox to ever join the police quarters, and was working with her on a daily basis.

"I know. I don't remember the last time I heard _all districts_ in Zootopia having a hard time with the weather... you've heard Clawhauser later on, only 15% of the population right now has electricity!" the grey-furred bunny next to Nick said, while she was driving the car, trying to focus on the road that was hidden by the thickness of the rain. Judith Hopps, Judy for short, that's her name. The first rabbit officer in the history of Zootopia. As long as she could remember, everybody, even her own parents, told her it was impossible for a bunny to be a cop. Yet, Judy graduated as the best in her class, solved a dangerous conspiracy case plotted by the then-assistant mayor, Dawn Bellwether, and saved the city from falling apart, as well bringing back 15 predator mammals safe and sound back into their homes. With the help of her best friend and partner Nick, of course.

It would be a lie to say the two mammals tagged along at their first meeting. Being a con-man at the time, Nick has swindled Judy and as if it wasn't enough embarrassing since she fell for it like a newbie (despite being a cop), he had managed to make her feel miserable about her dream of being a real police officer. Life smiled at Judy when she was given the permission to take on a missing mammal case to prove herself, but with her career at stake, she had no other choice but to ask Nick's help, since he was the only key witness. After giving him a piece of his own medicine and blackmailing him into helping her, it was the beginning of a long adventure for them, as well as a strong friendship as the case went on. Yes, there have been ups and downs, but thanks to their teamwork, the mastermind Bellwether was in jail and predators and preys were living in harmony once again.

They have learned eachother's backstories, secrets and even though sarcasm is the base of their friendship (from Nick's point of view), they care deeply about eachother and always have eachother's backs.

"Seriously, Carrots. What are we still out here, patrolling under the rain? There's not a soul out here! And if there is, they should go back home, friendly advice..." Nick groaned before taking another sip of his turning-cold coffee.

"I know... but you know Chief Bogo..."

" _ **HOPPS! WILDE! ANSWER, C43! OR YOU'LL SEE WHAT I'M MADE OF!"**_

Nick smirked as the radio of the car transmitted a message from the ZPD Police Department, given by nobody else but their grumpy boss, Chief Bogo: "Speaking of the devil... and everybody knows the answer is 50% fur, 50% joy of life."

Judy giggled at Nick's sarcastic line: "Just pick up, before he loses it _for real._ "

Nick picked up the walkie-talkie integrated into the police car in front of him: "Officer Wilde from Team C43, I'm listening." Nick said as if he was a receptionist, making Judy giggle under her breath so that her ill-tempered boss won't hear her.

" _ **WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT HERE IN THIS WEATHER?!"**_

"Weeeeell, you kinda ask us to patrol." Nick said as a matter of fact.

" _ **THAT WAS 3 HOURS AGO, FOX! COME AND BRING YOUR FLUFFY TAILS BACK HERE WITH THE CAR! I DON'T WANT A LIGHTNING TO STRIKE MY BEST OFFICERS!"**_

"Awww, Chief. Are you saying you _care_ about us?" Nick put a hand on his heart and batted his eyes, making Judy smile and roll her eyes as she kept driving forward in the rain.

" _ **DON'T PUSH YOUR LUCK, WILDE! HOPPS!"**_

Judy jumped in her seat at the shout of her family name, taking the walkie-talkie from Nick's hands while she was driving with the other: "Yes, Chief? Uh, I mean... Hopps, I'm listening."

" _ **HAVE YOU HEARD ANYTHING I SAID?!"**_

"It would be hard not to..." Nick said under his breath, but loud enough for Judy to hear. Fortunately, Judy didn't press the button yet so Bogo didn't hear this sarcastic line from the fox.

Judy sent Nick a 'shut your mouth' glare and pushed the button to talk back at her impatient boss: "Yes, sir."

" _ **THEN, HURRY UP BEFORE I ASK A TORNADO TO GIVE YOU A LIFT... INTO MY OFFICE!"**_

A moment of silence was heard before somebody else talked back _ **: "Uh... sorry for that, guys."**_

The team of animals smiled.

"That's okay, Clawhauser. We got used to it." Judy answered before giving back the walkie-talkie to Nick so she could drive correctly since the rain was blurring her vision of the road.

" _ **I hate when he steals the microphone from me like that! Just hurry up before he comes back, okay? And keep your eyes on the road! The thunder sure rumbles a lot, and the rain makes in sort it's pretty hard to see in front of you! Just be careful, Judy, okay?"**_

"Don't worry about it, Benji. You can go back to your Gazelle app..." Nick said.

" _ **Yes, officer!"**_ the enthusiastic voice of Clawhauser said before letting out his traditional giggle, and the communication was cut.

Nick sighed, putting the walkie-talkie back at its place: "And say I joined the force for that..."

Judy glared at him with a little smirk: "You don't mean that."

Nick smirked back: "Don't get all caught up, Cottontail." Suddenly, Nick turned all serious: "But I must admit. I'm close to meaning it."

"W-What do you mean? What's going on? Is it because of Bogo? Tell me!" Judy's nose was twitching without any control out of worry.

"Woah, woah! Relax, Fluff. Keep your eyes on the road and not too much concern, please. I'm not dying."

She chuckled and focused on the road: "Okay, sorry. But tell me. What's on your mind, Nick?"

Nick sighed, and leaned back into the passenger seat, putting his feet on the dashboard and his hands holding the back his head: "I don't know. I thought joining the force will be... _thrilling_ you know. I mean, you really convinced me after the Night Howler case. And I really enjoy patrolling with you..."

Judy smiled at him, but it wasn't long: "But?"

Nick exhaled and sat correctly, drinking a bit of his coffee, and turned his head at his partner: "But... it's been _six months_ since the Night Howler case... and all Bogo ever send us for is patrols. We had, what, _three arrestations_ in those? I just... want to feel the _thrill_ that we felt when we were investigating, you know? The mystery, the chasing, and the feeling of being helpful when everything is over... You know what I mean?"

Judy sighed: "I perfectly understand. I feel the exact same way. I mean... we still stopped Bellwether, why won't Chief Bogo give us another chance? He knows what we're capable of!"

Nick leaned back in his seat: "Well, knowing him, it might take a little while. I don't think six months is enough for him."

Judy smiled: "I won't stop hoping, though. Before I retired and went to Bunnyburrow, he told me I was a great cop, and he looked honest."

A thunderclap resounded in the sky, making Nick jump in surprise in his seat.

"Well, I hope this storm convinces him of what we do for him before we get fried on place. Are we almost there?"

"Yes, Nick. We're almost there. Do you need to go to the bathroom?" Judy teased sarcastically, as if Nick was an impatient child in a family trip.

Nick smirked: "Hehe. Sly bunny."

"Dumb fox." she smiled.

Nick smiled and looked back at the window: "Hey, Carrots. Maybe it's not too late for Bogo to give us another case."

"What do you mean?" she frowned, but kept her eyes on the road.

"We can still wish upon a star."

Judy gave him a confused glare and looked at the window: "The rain is pouring too hard. The sky is covered in clouds, there's no stars in the sky, Slick Nick."

"Well, I'm pretty sure I see a star... look!"

"Hey, we don't all have a super sight..." Judy squinted, and she saw what Nick was talking about. A tiny light in the sky that was surpringly bright enough to be see in the dark sky. But the light was getting bigger and bigger.

"Uh... Nick? I don't think that's a star..." Judy said, doubtful.

Nick looked pressing his face against the window and squinted his eyes for a better look: "Shooting star, maybe?"

"Are they supposed to be... _blue_?" Judy asked.

All of sudden, a loud whistle sound was heard as the huge blue blast flew over the car and went further and further into the other side of Zootopia. Judy and Nick yelped in surprise and after the car slid from left to right on the slippery road, Judy was able to hold the car steady again.

Nick was panting, fully aware they could've been in an accident: "Woah, did you see that, Carrots?!"

"Y-Yeah... sweet cheese on crackers! What the heck was that?!"

"I... I don't know, Carrots. But for the moment I just want to get out of this car. We almost died!"

"M-Me too. Thank gosh, we're there."

* * *

While Judy and Nick have arrived at the ZPD under the shock, the blue blast kept flying through the sky.

In Sahara Square, a bunch of camels who were playing poker in safety inside a motel saw the blue blast by the window and gasped, bringing more clients to have a better look. It was so fast that if you blinked, you'd miss it. Fortunately, one of them was able to snap a picture.

In Tundratown, the crime lord Mr. Big was drinking a martini in a tiny little glass, while listening to his favorite crooners on the radio and watching from his window the crazy weather that was worst in a wintry environment, where the rain and the snow were not a good mix. Despite that, he saw the blue blast fly at fulgurous speed in the dark grey sky.

"Mamma mia..." the surprise was bigger than his name, as his bushy eyebrows actually raised to reveal a pair of shocked eyes.

In Rainforest District, the Ottertons were having a family time in the living room, despite the weather. Emmitt Otterton pulled through his bad experience pretty well, since he couldn't remember a thing between being in the limo with Manchas and waking up in the hospital, greeted by his wife's embrance. After turning back to his old self and the Night Howler case was solved, he was there more than ever for his family. They were all playing Moosopoly all wrapped up in comforters under the light of candles, since the weather cut the electricity.

A whistle sound was heard. The youngest son, Victor, turned his ear towards the window, where the sound came from, and looked through it.

He gasped: "Mom! Dad! Lucas! Look!"

The four otters ran by the window and saw a blue blast fly at full speed through the sky. Mrs. Otterton gasped and put a paw on her chest. Lucas, the oldest son, aged 10, was open-mouthed. 7 year old Victor had his face and paws pressed against the glass of the window, curious and wanting to see more of this blue light. Emmitt fixed his glasses over the bridge of his nose to be sure he wasn't hallucinating.

"What was that, Emmitt?!"

"I don't know, Liz..." he said to his fearful wife.

* * *

The blue blast was heating up more and more as it kept flying through the sky under the eyes of some surprised animals from their homes, until it finally reached the ground, crashing in the middle of Taiga Plaza, a forest near Outback Island.

The blue blast landed on the ground violently, sending flying some chunks of dirt and mud, and the impact made the blue blast continue its trajectory on the ground, until the mud gradually slowed it down, until it finally stopped under a pine tree.

The bright light beam started to lose its blue luminosity and shun less and less as the rain poured on it through the needles of the pine.

When the light was entirely gone, the sprawled figure of a child was laying against the tree, as the rain poured on her unconscious face, and on her dolphin necklace that shun a bright blue light.

* * *

 **So, second chapter posted!**

 **Man, I really loved writing that chapter! Just wanting to say** _ **'Taiga Plaza'**_ **is a place I invented, where animals from forests who don't like living in the middle of a big metropolis live in peace, like bears, mooses, deers, etc. I studied a bit the places of Zootopia from the concept art that wasn't explored into the movie, to see if there was a place where the main habitat was a forest, but I didn't find any.**

 **And for those who didn't know 'Outback Island' really does exist in the canon Zootopia universe:** **it's a place where Australian species like koala bears and kangaroos live. SO ALL RIGHTS TO DISNEY, DON'T SUE ME.**

 **I was also eager to include the Otterton family. I gave two random names to the sons, and since Mrs. Otterton's name was not given in the movie, I gave her one too. I don't know, I think Liz is a name that fits her.**

 **As you probably realized, 'Moosopoly' is a lame pun for Monopoly, since the movie contained lots and lots of product placement but with animal puns, so I did one XD** **Also C43, the code for Judy and Nick's team code for the ZPD, is a reference since the movie got out on the 4th of March (4/03)**

 **No? Okay.**

 **Next chapter will deal with Fauna finding herself in the middle of Zootopia! See ya next chapter! ;)**

 **Riri xx**


	3. A Newcomer In Zootopia

**Little note before letting you read the chapter: I changed the story title for 'Child of Two Worlds' because I think it sounds better like this.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Birds were chirping, flying over Taiga Plaza to go back at their respective bird city, who was hours of flight away from the mammals-only city of Zootopia.

They were singing a song to make time go by quicker by the time they reached their home. Suddenly, one of the birds flew face first right in the top of a pine tree, making him stop singing: "Ow!"

"Marvin, are you okay?" the bird next to him asked in a concerned voice.

"Ugh, I hate when that happens! Why are trees that big? Look, I lost feathers!"

While the pair of birds was flying away, one of the powder blue feathers of the bird delicately fell down, from left to right in the movements of a cradle, as if it was dancing in the wind. Through the branches of the pine, only to pose itself on the bridge of a certain child's nose. The barbs of the feather were gently tickling it, making her crunch her nose, the feather fell in the process, and she finally woke up.

She had the impression a jackhammer was pounding inside of her head. She squinted, and groaned in pain as the daylight made her headache worst. She put a hand to block the sun, only to realize she was outside, in a forest.

Fauna rubbed her eyes and looked around her, not understanding what was happening. What was she doing in a forest?

She sat properly, and realized her jeans, her white shirt with an animal paw on it, her knee-lenght skirt with random animal motifs patches stitched togheter (zebra, giraffe, leopard, tiger, etc.) and purple hoodie were all dirty with mud. She rubbed her head hoping to make her headache go away, to realize she also had branches stuck between the knots of her hair.

 ** _Great... it will take forever to untangle that,_** she thought.

She stood up, and walked out of the pine tree she was asleep under. She started to walk: "Daddy?"

She was confused. She didn't remember falling asleep in a forest. She didn't even remember going into one in the first place!

"Daaaaaaddyyyyyy? A-Are you there?"

She kept walking, and turned around herself to look at her surroundings: "DADDY?"

That's when she finally heard a voice: "Well, hello hello! Step right up, come closer!"

 _ **Oh, there's someone! Maybe he can help me!**_

Fauna ran towards the voice's direction.

"Go bother someone else, Weselton!"

As Fauna approached the entry of the forest, she frowned when she heard a high pitch voice talk back. It's as if the voice was on helium.

"It's _Weaselton_ for you, miss! And I know you're dying, into buying these revolutionary berries against forest monsters! You just throw these at them, and you are safe to run away!"

Another high pitched voice answered back as Fauna finally reached the entry and peeked between the branches: "Oh, yeah. Suuuure. A 'forest monster'! And I'm the mayor of Zootopia!"

The two helium voices laughed in unison.

Fauna frowned in utter confusion. She wasn't seeing anyone. She looked down to see only a small animal, a weasel... _wearing clothes?_

 _ **Is this a bad joke?**_

Fauna wanted to be sure she wasn't dreaming and she approached the weasel from behind.

"You shouldn't joke with that, you clueless little rodents! We may be civilized animals, but, there are some creatures in the forest, that we've never seen before! They only make _one bite_ out of your children, and they keep you for dessert!" the weasel was standing on his two hind legs. He was wearing a white tank top with dark blue pants and expressing himself in large overly-dramatic gestures.

That's when Fauna saw the source of the high pitched voices: two little chipmunks. Like the ones she saw on a daily basis in her schoolyard. But these ones wore clothes too. One wore a simple blue t-shirt with jeans shorts, another one wore a white shirt and a purple skirt, with a little flower near her ear.

Before the male chipmunk could answer, he looked at Fauna right in the eye and the two chipmunks yelled and ran away at the sight of her.

"Yeah, that's right! You should be scared!" the weasel seemed to scream to the running chipmunks. "Hehehe, stupid little rats. As if there was actually a forest monst-"

The voice stopped talking when Fauna's shadow was standing over him. He slowly turned around to come face to face with Fauna.

He threw his berries at her, as if they could protect him from her, but only resulting a confused glare from Fauna who looked at him with round dumbfounded eyes. The weasel chuckled in nervousness and showed her a couple of blueberries: "Uh... you want one? It's half price for you..."

When Fauna saw the weasel **talk back to her** she let out a bloodcurling scream: "AHHHHHHHH!"

"AHHHHHHHH!" the weasel screamed back, throwing away his berries in the air, and ran away as fast as his legs could carry him. "RUN FOR YOU LIVES! RUN FOR YOU LIIIIIIIVES!"

Fauna was in utter shock. She just saw a weasel _talk_. It talked! And he was wearing clothes. She shook her head from side to side, trying to forget what just happened.

 _ **I must be dreaming. That must be a really weird dream!**_

She followed the path where the weasel ran away. She reached a wooden cabin for tourists to ask questions and eat a snack or go to the bathroom, like the ones her and her parents used to go to when they went in road trips, when she was younger.

But she hid behind a bush, when she realized something was wrong with this cabin.

There were bears, wolves, deers, badgers, and a lot of other animals living in forest habitats around this place. They were all wearing clothes, and all walked on their two hind legs. She saw a family of bears drive away in a car, as well as a wolf and a bison having a good laugh on a picnic table near the entry of the cabin.

 _ **I thought wolves and bisons were natural enemies...**_

Fauna was bewildered and kept looking from her hiding spot: she saw a couple of giraffes taking a picture together.

 _ **Giraffes don't even live in the forest! What is this?!**_

Everywhere she looked, she saw more animals taking pictures, parking their car and talking between them.

 _ **They're acting like...**_ **humans.**

Fauna kept pinching herself on the arm and slapped her face repeatedly. But she wouldn't wake up. Why wouldn't she wake up?

This was too crazy to be real! This couldn't be real... unless... _it could._

That's at this exact moment the memories flowed back into Fauna's mind. Going at her father's presentation of a dimension-travelling machine. Freeing the animals. Her father telling her about her mother's death. Running away from him, crying. The black monster ape-thing throwing her in the machine. Being scared to death.

And then she was there.

Fauna was maybe 9 years old, but the world had a tendency to underestimate her maturity for a girl her age.

And she understood perfectly what was happening to her.

Her father's machine actually _worked_. She was in another dimension. And in this dimension, according to what she saw, instead of being mute and walking on fours, animals actually evoluated to be capable of talking and being civilized. Like an actual human being.

Fauna refused to believe her situation.

 _ **I need some help... I got to go back home! I can't believe I'm going to talk to actual animals... and this time, they'll answer back!**_

Fauna stood up from her hiding spot and fearfully approached the cabin where the animals were hanging out. She felt out of place. Like a prize in a box of cereal.

The young girl hesitated. What will she do? What will she say?

That's when a brown bear accidentally bumped into her. Fauna, used to the bears of her universe, shrieked in surprise, making the bear yell loudly when he took a look of her, and fall on his back, crawling away from her.

All the other animals turned their heads around and gasped, running away screaming.

"N-No, no! D-Don't be afraid!" she tried to be reassuring, but she actually made it worst.

"I-I-I-IT TAAAAAALKS!" the bear yelled before standing up and running away.

All the animals entered their cars, driving away or hid in the cabin. Fauna was just as scared as the animals. As she was now standing alone, she sighed and looked down, but her eye caught something. It was a flyer. She took it in her hands and read the catch line: " _Welcome to Zootopia. Where anyone can be anything._ "

She frowned. Her thoughts got once again confirmed that she was really in another dimension, since she was sure that her teacher never talked about any 'Zootopia' in geography, at school. Fauna opened the flyer, to reveal a huge map. She saw a drawing representation of a forest: _Taiga Plaza._ She guessed she was there. That's when her eyes caught glimpse of drawn buildings.

"A city?" she said outloud to herself when she saw a city in the middle of the map. "Savanna Central... maybe there will be people, there... I gotta go to this city!"

She put the flyer in the pocket of her hoodie. She'll need it.

"How am I gonna get to this city? I don't know where it is, and everybody is too afraid of me... for some reason."

Fauna sighed, and realized she'd have no other choice but to walk. She walked forward, scared and uncomfortable of her surroundings.

She was currently walking on the ground of another universe. How crazy was that? She missed her father. She was mad at him, but she couldn't wait to see him again and tell him the weird things she saw. Then she'll go back to be mad at him again, despite that she loved him anyway.

But she needed to find an adult, first. An adult who was actually a human like her, in preference.

After walking a dozen of minutes through the forest road, Fauna reached a tourist point. She saw more animals. She gasped, and put the hood of her hoodie on top of her head, to hide her face. She didn't want to cause another general panic.

Fauna walked for a moment and turned her head to see what everybody was looking for.

"Wow..."

It was a beautiful waterfall. While she was staring at it, she heard a couple of hippopotamuses talking.

The female hippo spoke: "It's really beautiful, Henry. I can't wait to go back at Savanna Central to-"

Fauna didn't care about the rest of the sentence. At the moment she heard they were going in Savanna Central, she found her cab to go there. But how could she enter their car without being seen? When they walked toward their grey SUV car, Fauna had an idea.

She took a rock on the ground, and waited until a female lynx with a young cub passed by. She threw the rock at the male hippo's head, and walked away.

"Hey! Can you watch it?" the male hippo said, turning around at the moment the female lynx and her cub were passing by, offended.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, it's just that your child threw a rock at my head..."

"Oh, I'm really sorry, sir..."

While the couple of hippo tourists was too distracted by her scheme, Fauna climbed in the back of the car by a window that was left open, and hid behind an enormous suitcase in the trunk. She sighed in relief. Now the car will take her to Savanna Central, and everything will be fine.

She hoped.

A few seconds later, the couple climbed into the car and started the engine.

During the ride, Fauna tried to make the less sounds possible. She was impatient. She just wanted to get at the city to ask for help and get out of this mess.

Every five minutes, she would peek from the window to see if she was at the city yet. She would be agaped by the scenery. One thing was sure, this place was beautiful in nature.

She didn't know how many hours passed by, but a lot of familiar songs had the time to pass on the radio, and the couple fought 4 times over stupid things. Listening to them was the only source of distraction other than reading the map of 'Zootopia' that Fauna could get.

It was long. She wasn't there yet, that was sure. She was so tired, that she fell asleep.

* * *

"AHHHHHH! WHAT IS THAT?!"

Fauna woke up in a start. She gasped when she quickly understood her situation. The hippos have opened the trunk of their car to take their luggages, but they discovered her hiding there. She was busted.

Fauna quickly stood up and escaped in the space between the two hippos, and ran away hearing the screams of the female hippo behind her. She was not in the forest anymore, and she was glad. But she had no idea where she was.

She left the map back in the hippos' car. And she wasn't getting it back, that's for sure.

She was in some kind of neighborhood. She entered an alley and kept running for a while, and stopped when she was out of breath. No one followed her, she was safe.

That's when she turned her head on the other side of the alley that her jaw fell. The city was huge. It looked a lot like New-York, but there were animals with clothes walking on their hind legs everywhere. The more animals Fauna saw, the less she understood.

She walked in front of her. There was some enormous screens showing some publicity, a bit like in Times Square.

A song that Fauna has heard back in the hippos' car was playing. _'Try Everything'_ , if she remembered correctly.

"She sounds a bit like Shakira..." Fauna told herself about the (animal) singer of the song.

That's when a gazelle with a bright sparkling red bikini top and matching skirt appeared on the big screen: _"I'm Gazelle, welcome to Zootopia!"_ she said before the screen changed into another one saying 'Welcome to Savanna Central!'

At least, she was in Savanna Central. But when Fauna looked around her, she saw no humans. Only animals everywhere.

She liked animals. But for the first time in her life, Fauna was sick of seeing animals. She thought it would drive her nuts. She was in the middle of a big unknown city, and she saw humans nowhere.

She was alone, in another dimension. She was stuck there. Tears got in her eyes when she understood that she would never see her father again. She refused to believe it.

"Daddy! DADDY! COME AND GET ME! DADDY!" she started to cry and ran in circles. "PLEASE HELP ME!"

The animals only jumped back in surprise, bumped her away telling her to be careful, or ran away screaming.

"PLEASE, DON'T BE AFRAID! I NEED SOME HELP, PLEASE, HAVE SOME MERCY!"

An elephant trumpeted in fear and almost fell on her, making her yell and run away into an alley for safety. She kept running until she was facing a fence.

She grabbed the fence and started to shake it as if she was able to rip it off out of frustration and fear: "I JUST... NEED... some... _help_."

She hit her back against the fence, and slid down, crying uncontrollably, her head buried in her knees, in a foetal position.

She was sent into another universe by a monster. How could this happen to her? It was the worst nightmare that could be possibly real. There was nothing else she could do. Everybody was afraid of her, and now she knew why.

There was no humans, there. Only animals. And none of them would help her.

She would never see her father again. And the last thing she told him was that she hated him. Just after telling her that her mother was dead. Even after lying to her like that, she missed him and just wanted him back.

Fauna didn't mind being alone before. But she has never felt so _lonely_.

She sniffed and looked at her tears falling on the ground The ground of another dimension.

She had to accept it. She was lost, alone, and will have to find a place to sleep. Not just for the night. But forever, since she was never going home in her room with her dad next door again.

She sighed in despair, feeling a sad cold feeling take over her heart. Until she felt another feeling that interrupted her sad thoughts: a grumble in her stomach. She was starving. Travelling into another dimension sure got her hungry.

Fauna smelled a delicious odor of fish. She almost drooled. She stood up, wiping her tears with her sleeve. The odor came from the other side of the fence. She went through a hole in the bottom and walked until she reached the other side of the alley.

She peeked from the corner of the building and started to walk face down, her hood over her head hiding her human appearance, following the provenance of the odor. That's when saw a female raccoon behind a stand, selling some types of fish hot dogs in the street. Fauna didn't have any money on her. And anyway, it's not like the bear would accept her buying stuff without shouting at her appearance first, like everyone else.

Fauna didn't like it, but she had no other choice.

She had to steal.

* * *

Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde were patrolling in Savanna Central.

"Hooray, another patrol. It's not like we've seen this Gazelle billboard a hundred times before..." Nick snarked before drinking his cup of coffee.

Judy sighed: "We'll have our chance again, Nick. I can feel it. How about we listen to the radio? It will cheer us up!"

With her usual optimism, she turned on the radio, but quickly changed the channels when all the songs didn't help the ambiance:

 _ **'Hello darkness my old friend'**_

 ***click***

 _ **'NOOOOO TIIIIIIIME FOR LOOOOOOSERS'**_

 ***click***

 _ **'Does it almost feel like nothing changed at all'**_

"Wow. I feel so much better, now." Nick said sarcastically.

Judy groaned at the radio, and put it on the news.

" **Last night, a blast of blue was seen by a lot of Zootopians in the sky. Simple shooting star... or new meteorological phenomenon-?"**

The radio was interrupted when the ZPD transmitted a message.

" _ **Uh, C43?"**_

A bored Nick took the walkie-talkie: "Yes, Clawhauser. I have tried the new Gazelle app. It's the 28th time you ask me already..."

" _ **Uh, it's not really that, in fact-"**_

" _ **HOPPS! WILDE!"**_

Both officers jumped in their seats at the sudden shout of their names. They are used to it, but it still takes you by surprise...

Nick sighed and answered flatly: "Yes, Chief?"

" _ **ARE YOU CURRENTLY IN SAVANNA CENTRAL?"**_

"That's where you almost always send us, so I'll guess it's a yes."

" _ **I HAVE NO TIME FOR YOUR SARCASM, WILDE! SOME WISE GUY IS MAKING EVERYBODY PANIC ABOUT SOME MONSTER OR I DON'T KNOW! AND BECAUSE OF THIS NITWIT, I HAVE A THOUSAND CALLS FREAKING OUT ABOUT SAID IMAGINARY MONSTER AND I WANT IT TO**_ **DIE DOWN!** _ **SO TELL HIM TO SHUT IT!"**_

"Don't worry Chief. We'll take care of it. Take it cool, have some coffee, and go back to your Gazelle app with peace on your mind..." Nick smirked.

" _ **KNOCK IT OFF, FOX! I don't even use that app, by the way... HOPPS, CLAWHAUSER WILL GIVE YOU THE DETAILS!"**_

A few seconds later...

" _ **Ugh, will he ever stop doing that?!"**_ Clawhauser referred to the habit of Chief Bogo to steal the microphone from him and yell into it.

"Clawhauser, Bogo wasn't exactly clear on the details. Who are we dealing with and where do we go?" Nick asked.

" _ **Oh, right. So, you know Duke Weaselton?"**_

Judy rolled her eyes: "Ugh, him again? Will he stop making us lose our time with his schemes?"

" _ **Yeah. He's near Jumbeaux's Café. He's making everybody panic about some 'forest monster' or I don't know..."**_

"Okay, we're on our way. 10-4." Nick said before hanging up the walkie-talkie. "Jumbeaux's Café? Hey, that's where we met!" he said to Judy.

"Oh yeah, where you hustled 20$ out of me! You still owe it to me, by the way!" Judy said sarcastically.

"Oh come on, Carrots. I said I was sorry!"

"Saying sorry won't pay my bills, sweetheart!" Judy said as she pressed her foot against the pedal and drove to the street where Jumbeaux's Café was situated.

Minutes later, Judy parked the police car near a bunch of animals that were in a circle. The fox and the bunny got out of the car and walked their way through the bunch of people.

"H-H-H-He was b-big! A-And f-full of dirt!"

Gasps were heard.

"Excuse me, police!" Judy showed her badge to make people clear their way, and Nick did the same.

"I-I-It did a scream. I-I've never heard before! To make your b-blood turn cold!"

"Alright, Weselton. Show's over." Nick said.

"Don't worry anyone, we'll take care of it. Go back at your occupations." Judy reassured the scared animals.

As the animals were going away, Duke was shaking: "I-It's Weaselton, Wilde! A-And I'm not lying! I swear it's true!"

Judy rolled her eyes: "You're travelling through every district in Zootopia to get some money out of innocent people who believe your lies and your lame cons. And now you go to create a tale about some monster? When will you stop, you scoundrel weasel?"

Duke grabbed Nick by his shirt and shook him frantically, making the latter surprised: "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! IT'S TRUE! I SWEAR! IT LOOKED AT ME RIGHT IN THE EYES!" he pointed his own red eyes.

He got down on his knees and showed his wrists: "PLEASE, ARREST ME!"

Nick passed a quick hand on his wrinkled shirt caused by Duke, and crossed his arms: "It's really tempting, believe me... but can I at least know _why_?"

He stood up: "I DON'T WANT THIS THING TO EAT ME! I'M TOO YOUNG AND ATTRACTIVE TO END UP AS BREAKFAST! DON'T YOU SEE I'M READY OF ASKING THE HELP FROM THE _POLICE_?! I'M SERIOUS, PLEASE BELIEVE ME!"

He started to bawl his eyes out, making the two uncomfortable officers look at eachother.

Judy sighed: "Okay, okay. Calm down, Duke. If I take some notes on how the 'monster' looked like, will you stop making everybody panic?"

He wiped his tears away and nodded: "Y-Yes! I'll do anything you'd like! Just make me sleep in a cell tonight... PLEASE!"

Judy and Nick both looked at eachother with a smirk, knowing they'll finally have a break from this weasel, and Judy took a notepad and clicked her carrot pen: "Okay... what did your 'monster' looked like?"

"I-It was at least twice my height! Around 4 feet tall, or I don't know..."

"You mean _my_ height?" Nick smirked.

"WHATEVER! THE HEIGHT DOESN'T MATTER! IT WAS STILL SCARY!"

"Do you know the gender?" Judy asked, still writing notes on her pad.

"N-No... it happened too quickly! But I saw Its eyes! Its eyes... they weren't the same color! The left was grey, the right was blue!"

"Okay... the clothes?" Judy kept asking while not leaving her eyes from her pad.

"A purple hoodie. A white shirt, I'm not sure. J-Jeans. And... a skirt, I think."

"A skirt... _**with**_ _jeans_?" Nick frowned.

Duke nodded.

"Well, your monster needs some fashion advice..."

Judy giggled at her partner's remark, and waited for the weasel to keep going.

"T-The skirt had motives... of fur! Probably from other animals! Giraffes, leopards, zebras... that It skinned before eating..." he started biting his nails out of nervousness.

Nick and Judy looked at eachother briefly. They both agreed without even talking to eachother that the weasel was overly dramatic.

"Uh, okay... and what color was 'its' fur?" Nick asked.

"That's the **worst part!** " he grabbed Nick by his shirt and shook him. "It had _NONE_!"

"No fur? And you're sure it wasn't just a rhino, or..." Judy asked, but was quickly interrupted by the weasel.

"NO! It had no fur in its face... but there was a LOT on top of Its head... a-all brown, tangled with branches. Kinda like a lion's mane... and It was all covered in mud and dirt! From Its head to toes! I-It approached me from behind, and screamed in my face! I ran away and jumped in the first train..."

"No horns?"

"No!"

"No claws?"

"Couldn't see!"

"No trunk?"

"NO! No trunk, o-or even a _snout_! I've never seen a weird small nose like that before..."

Judy frowned since she never saw an animal without a trunk or a snout: "If you're joking, Weaselton, I swear-"

"NO! I KNOW IT SOUNDS CRAZY, BUT IT'S TRUE! I told you everything I know, so NOW PLEASE ARREST ME!"

Judy closed her notebook, clicked her carrot pen and looked at Nick: "I leave you the honor."

Nick smirked and twirled the handcuffs around his claw: "With pleasure."

The fox handcuffed the crying weasel, who stopped and sighed in relief: "Thank you! Thank you!"

Nick sent him in the back of the car and closed the door behind him: "You're more than welcome." he said flatly.

The officers entered the car.

"Let's drive this low-life into the ZPD before I'm the one who skins him instead of this _'monster'_ " Nick did quotation marks with his fingers on the word 'monster', taking the passenger seat.

" _ **Uh, C43?"**_ Clawhauser's voice was heard from the radio.

Judy answered: "Hopps, C43, I'm listening."

" _ **Have you talked to Weaselton?"**_

"He's in the back right now."

" _ **Well, the Chief wants you to bring him over..."**_

"Why?"

" _ **Well, we kinda had calls from people in Savanna Central describing a 'monster' that may or may not be the same description Weaselton was talking about... but also from other districts... especially Taiga Plaza. A female hippo came here crying like**_ **crazy** _ **and Chief Bogo is still calming her down... apprently it was hiding in her car."**_

"DO THEY MEAN A FURLESS MONSTER COVERED IN DIRT?!" the frantic weasel shouted from the back, as he was hearing the conversation.

"Knock it off!" Nick said, and his ears went back to Clawhauser's voice.

" _ **Uh, basically... yes."**_ Clawhauser referred to the description of 'the monster'.

"That means Weaselton told the truth?" a confused Judy said to a frowning Nick.

"OF COURSE I TOLD THE TRUTH! YOU STILL DON'T BELIEVE ME?! NOW DON'T YOU REALIZE _IT FOLLOWED ME HERE_! I-It's gonna eat me... HIT THE PEDAL, RABBIT! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!" Duke yelled through the cage that separated the front of the police car to the back where the arrested animals were sitting in.

Before anyone else could say anything else, a female shriek could be heard.

"HELP! I JUST GOT ROBBED!" a female raccoon shrieked. Suddenly, a little figure ran in front of the police car, holding fish hot dogs wrapped in tin foil before hiding them in her hoodie pockets.

"What the-" Nick said, seeing the curly brown hair full of branches and the purple hoodie.

"IT... IT'S THE MONSTER! IT'S HIM! OR HER... WHO CARES, LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!" Duke yelled, scared out of his mind.

Judy got out of the car, and Nick did the same.

"What are you doing?!" the handcuffed weasel yelled.

"Be a good weasel. We'll be right back!" Nick winked before running after Judy who was running after the figure.

"HEY! COME BACK! ARE YOU INSANE?! DON'T... leave me here!"

Nick caught up to Judy pretty quickly.

"So, I told you we'd have our chance!" she smiled at him while running.

"Finally a bit of action!" Nick was just as thrilled.

"ZPD, STOP IN THE NAME OF THE LAW!" Judy yelled in the direction of the figure.

Fauna looked behind her, and gasped when she realized two animal police officers were after her. She saw a fence, and jumped over it.

"HE'S GOING IN LITTLE RODENTIA!" Nick yelled to Judy.

"Oh, no! Why do criminals always go in there?! Go on the other side, I'll chase him!" Judy said, since she was small enough not to step on the animals.

Fauna climbed over the fence. But when she went on the other side, she almost crushed a mouse, who shrieked and ran away. Fauna gasped and realized she was in a little city where _she_ was the bigger one. She felt like Godzilla compared to the mice. She was really careful into not crushing the screaming and running rodents.

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry..."

"HEY! STOP WHERE YOU ARE!"

Fauna started to accelerate the tempo of her feet when the bunny was still chasing her.

Fauna loved rabbits, but this one running after her scared the crap out of her, since she was definitely bigger than the bunnies from her dimensions. She was maybe a bit smaller than her, but she looked stronger, that's no doubt.

Fauna turned around a corner, trying to escape from the rabbit.

"I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! COMING THROUGH!" she yelled to the mice.

She didn't see the plastic tube between two buildings in front of her and ran straight through it, making her yelp in surprise as it broke in half.

A female mouse that was inside at the moment screamed, thinking she was falling to her death. But Fauna caught the falling tube just in time, the traumatized mouse panting inside and holding the edges of the tube.

Fauna shook it and the mouse fell into her hand: "Are you okay?"

The mouse was shaking in her tiny hand that was huge for her: "Please, don't eat me!"

"I'm not gonna eat you..."

The mouse could take a good look at the face under the hoodie.

She was one weird creature, and the lack of fur scared her a bit. But by looking into her eyes of different color, the mouse saw compassion and the innocence of a child.

The mouse calmed down when Fauna gently put her down. During that time, Judy Hopps turned the corner and saw the way that the 'monster' treated the mouse: nicely. Was 'It' really dangerous as Weaselton stated? Probably not... but Judy still needed to do her job and stop this thief.

"You're... a child! What are you exactly?" the mouse asked Fauna.

"I'm really sorry, I just need to-"

"DON'T MOVE! YOU'RE UNDER ARREST!" the rabbit yelled and started to run after her again.

"-get outta here!" she continued her previous sentence.

The mouse looked at the little human girl run away, confused by what has just happened.

 _ **WILL THIS BUNNY JUST LEAVE ME ALONE?**_

Fauna thought in frustration. She finally arrived on the exit of Little Rodentia and jumped over the fence and kept running.

She sighed in relief, knowing she won't have to worry anymore about stepping on someone, but when she thought she escaped from the bunny, she stopped dead in tracks when a fox blocked her way.

"Going somewhere?"

He was taller than her, and Fauna gulped. She turned around and the bunny was right behind her.

Fauna tried to find an escape quickly with her eyes. She them glimpsed at an apartment building. She ran for it.

"HEY!" Nick exclaimed.

Judy soon joined Nick and both officers ran after the young thief who had just entered the door of the building. Judy kicked the door opened. Animals who were in the hall at the moment were confused and shocked by the chase that was happening in their apartment building.

"POLICE! STOP RUNNING RIGHT NOW!" Nick yelled.

Fauna didn't listen and she started to climb up the stairs, going from floor to floor, upper and upper. She felt like puking. She was sick of everything. It has been who knows how many time she was stuck there that she wanted to go home more than ever. It wasn't funny anymore. It wasn't even funny in the first place.

Say that in the morning, she was with her dad living a tranquil life. Who could've known that day an evil ape would kidnap her, send her into a universe of anthropomorphic animals to be chased by a team of police animals who treated her like the worst of criminals... and all that because of a bunch of pathetic fish hot-dogs!

Fauna finally reached the top of the building. She opened the emergency door and got out. She was on top of the building. She had a great view of Zootopia, but the child was sick of it. She wanted to go home. It wasn't complicated!

She heard a loud metal sound. She gasped and turned around. From under her hoodie, she could see the fox who had just locked the door, and the bunny who was approaching her.

"There's no way out, this time... we're gonna ask you to come with us, please." Judy said with a reassuring, but still strict voice.

Fauna was panting, scared. Tears leaked from her eyes. This bunny shouldn't even be supposed to talk!

She threw her hot dogs on the ground: "I... I was just hungry! There's your stupid hot dogs, leave me alone!"

"Wait, is that..." Nick started a sentence after he heard the tone of her voice.

"... a _kid_?" Judy's eyes widened.

Fauna was panting, slowly walking backwards, away from them.

"Wait, look out, kid!" Nick yelled while Judy's heart started to beat hard in her chest when the kid was too close from the border.

"STAY AWAY FROM ME!"

Fauna wanted to turn around, but she realized her mistake too late when she fell, letting out a bloodcurling scream.

"NO!" Judy yelled and both officers ran to the border, tetanized by the shock and completely powerless at the child's plight.

Fauna was free falling. She was thinking really hard about her father. She didn't want to die.

She suddenly landed on a clothesline, who broke her fall for a few moments, but she shrieked again as the line broke underneath her, this time blinded by a large shirt that fell over her head

She fell on another clothesline and this time grabbed unto it with an iron grip, hoping to stop her fall, but a part of it broke, and more clothes and a bed sheet fell on her, as the clothesline acted as a vine and made her collide face first unto a wall, making her fall a 10 feet fall, knocking her out as she landed.

During that time, the two officers saw everything, completely horrified.

"Oh my god, I hope she's okay!" Judy said.

"I think all the clotheslines and the sheets cushioned her fall... I hope." a shocked Nick answered.

"We got to help her!" Judy, being the impulsive bunny she was, took a few steps back to take a swing.

"Woah woah, what are you doing?" Nick doubted his partner's actions.

Before he could say anything else, the rabbit officer jumped in the empty, at the kid's aid.

"CARROTS, ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!" her partner yelled at her.

Judy, being skilled thanks to her species, landed on top of a clothesline, but since she was lighter than the kid, it didn't break under her weight. As the gravity pulled her down, she did a perfect flip that made her land on the ground safely but elegantly, with the grace of a gymnast.

A few seconds later, she heard her panting partner running like a maniac, to join her.

"Well, took you a long time!" Judy smiled innocently.

"Please... don't... do that... ever again!" the fox said between pants. "Can't you take the stairs like everybody else?!"

Judy smiled, but quickly remembered the kid: "We'll talk about this later!"

Nick nodded and both animals ran to the fallen figure kid, who was covered by a huge white bed sheet and sprawled on animal clothes that fell from the clotheslines. Nick gulped and pulled the sheet away, and both officers sighed in relief when they saw the tiny belly go up and down.

"She's still breathing." Judy said, a paw on her chest. "Thank goodness."

"Carrots, look at her paws..." Nick said, his eyes staring at the paws of the girl.

Judy squinted to be sure she was seeing clearly. The little girl had tiny furless paws. No digital pads, and no sharp claws either. She had thin digits, and the only thing that could count for 'claws' were round and barely sticked out of her fingers.

The face of the girl was covered by an enormous giraffe T-Shirt. Judy pulled it away, but her face was still covered by the hoodie.

"Woah, Carrots, watch it! She could wake up, and bite you! Careful!" Nick said.

"Relax, Nick. She's unconscious. And she's just a kid..."

"Judy, it's an animal we've never seen before... we don't know what she's capable of!"

"Then let's discover what she is!"

She pulled the hoodie away from her face, and both took a step back in case she'd wake up. But she didn't. The fall must've knocked her out cold.

Nick and Judy were in fascination in front of this new animal. Her face didn't have any fur either. It had a cream color, a thousand of little darker spots over her cheeks and pink pursed lips.

"Furless face... Weaselton did told the truth..." Judy spoke to herself.

"What kind of animal is this? I mean, look at her nose..." Nick said.

It was the first time Judy and Nick saw a nose like that. It wasn't a trunk, or a snout, or stretched out like a moose's or a horse's. It was small and snubbed, and was situated in the middle of her face.

"According to you, is she a prey or a predator?"

"Only her can answer. We got to bring her back to the ZPD. I'll ask McHorn to take care of Weaselton."

"Oh, I forgot about that one... good idea. I don't want him to scream like a maniac during the ride because she'll be next to him..." Nick said, before taking the unconscious child in his arms.

After Judy communicated with McHorn, Nick was staring at the kid in his arms.

The fox looked at Judy, confused: "Why is everybody afraid of her? I mean, she sure is a weird creature, but..."

"... she's not a monster. She's just a kid. I saw the way she acted with the mice, in Little Rodentia. She doesn't look like the type to hurt anyone on purpose. And by the way she talked to us before falling, she doesn't want problems... we got to bring her to the ZPD before she wakes up. Poor kid. She may be lost!" Judy said, feeling concerned about this kid.

"We've never seen her species before." Nick said, looking back at the unconscious child. "She probably is."

* * *

 **Heyyy! Hoped you liked this chapter just as much as I like writing it!**

 **It literally took me all day, since I was missing inspiration by some parts, and I had to go to work. Otherwise, it was really fun to write, my personal favorite was the chase and when Judy and Nick find her and talk about her when she's K.O.**

 **By the way the three songs that plays in the radio when Judy and Nick are in the car (totally not inspired by the actual movie with Judy's alarm clock what) are:**

 _ **The Sound of Silence (Simon and Garfunkel)**_

 _ **We Are The Champions (Queen)**_

 _ **Pompeii (Bastille)**_

 **I DO NOT OWN THESE SONGS, PLEASE DON'T SUE ME I'M BROKE.**

 **You know what I did there when Fauna said that Gazelle sounded like Shakira XD I'm unfunny, I know.**

 **Anyhoo, to sum it up, Fauna is now stuck in Zootopia and has (kinda) met Judy and Nick. What will happen next? See it next chapter!**

 **Love ya,**

 **Riri xx**


	4. What's A Human?

Fauna groaned when she slowly came back to her senses. She deepened her head into the mattress she was sleeping into, until her nose inhaled a weird odor of wet dog that made her gasp and sit adruptly, waking up.

She was sitting on a green mattress. She looked around her. She was in a cubic room, with 3 eroded yellow walls with graffitis all over them, apparently made out of claws. She turned her head to the left and saw huge metal bars forming rectangular shapes, clearly meant on purpose to refrain escapes.

Fauna understood pretty quickly that she was in a prison cell.

She started to breathe heavily, terrified of her situation. She stood up, ran to the bars and grabbed them between her tiny hands, shaking them like crazy as if the door of the cell was magically gonna open. After a while, Fauna stopped and put her face between two bars, letting out a shaky breath, mentally trying to calm down.

The last thing she remembered was being chased by a rabbit and a fox, to fall down a building. At least, being in another dimension made her stronger than she thought since she apparently came off unharmed, but that was only physically.

Fauna's eyes started to water and pearls of tears fell one by one the concrete floor of Zootopia's jail.

As she kept her head in its position between the bars, she just wished this nightmare would stop.

* * *

"But Chief, you can't lock her in a cell!"

"It is for the best, Hopps. We don't know what kind of animal it is! She could attack!"

Judy sighed: "Let us interrogate her, please."

"No."

"But-"

"No 'buts', Hopps!"

Nick finally spoke: "Chief, with all due respect, I think it would be better for us to interrogate her. She still talked to us, even though briefly, so we know she speaks our language."

"Chief, please. We didn't have a case that important since the Night Howler case... let us do the talking. She's a child!"

"That... that furless thing? A _child_?"

"Yes. She was completely terrified of us." Nick said. "And between you and me, if she wakes up in a cell, it won't help her feel welcomed..."

"Oh, and what should I do? Throw a party? Invite a clown? Make some _cake_?" the police chief said sarcastically. "She committed a theft, an infraction into a vehicle and almost killed a rodent resident in Little Rodentia. Being a child does not excuse being dangerous!"

"Chief, she may look strange, but she is not-"

Before Judy could continue her sentence, a loud scream was heard into the police station, followed by a bunch of other high-pitched ones.

"What's happening?!" Nick asked.

"That sounded like Swinton!" Bogo said.

"The kid..." Judy whispered, recognizing the last screams as the same tone of the shriek the kid did when she fell off the building.

The three police animals ran towards the cells where Officer Swinton was taken care of watching the prisoners. While they ran, Delgato, a tiger officer, ran, followed by a lot of other officers.

Judy and Nick exchanged a glare as they ran; asking themselves what was going on.

When they entered the cells room, Swinton was assisted by a hippo officer and the cell of the new prisoner was wide opened... _and empty._

"For crikey's sake, what is going on here?" Bogo asked in shock with his usual loud voice.

"She... she bit me!" Swinton said, under the shock.

"I told you she was dangerous!" Bogo said.

"I told you that waking up in a cell wouldn't help..." Nick said back. Bogo lifted one of his hooved fingers to answer, but as he realized Nick was right, only grumbled in annoyance as a response.

"Where is she?" Judy asked.

The hippo officer answered: "She slipped from my grip and ran away after I put a muzzle on her..."

Nick stiffened. Judy looked at him, and felt sadness and compassion hit her as she knew the bad experience her partner had with muzzles.

"Are you out of your mind? Or completely stupid?!" Nick asked, mad.

"Excuse me?" the hippo officer said.

"Wilde!"

"Nick..."

Nick ignored Bogo and Judy calling him out and kept going: "She's a child, you **moron!** Why would you put a muzzle on her?!"

"She bit Swinton!" the hippo said in his defense. "I did my job. No biting is tolerated: you bite a member of the staff, you get muzzled. It's the rules. You should know that, Wilde. And I won't make an exception just because she's a child of a different species!"

Nick sent him a death glare, and turned to Judy: "No wonder why she escaped... she must be scared out of her mind. Come on, Judy. Let's find her."

Judy sighed and both officers looked everywhere around the police department.

After a few minutes of looking, Nick pressed the button of his walkie-talkie: "Clawhauser?"

" _ **Yes, Nick?"**_

"Have you seen the kid?"

" _ **All the officers in the ZPD are asking me that! Yes, I am aware that she escaped, but why would she—OH EM GOODNESS!"**_

"What's going on, Clawhauser?" Judy asked, concerned.

" _ **S-She's here! She's trying to get out by the door! I locked them by distance, she's trapped in here... HOLY FUDGESICLE, SHE'S LOOKING AT RIGHT AT ME!"**_

"Stay calm Clawhauser, she won't hurt you!" Nick tried to calm down the frantic receptionist through his radio as he and Judy ran faster in the hall, going towards the reception.

 _ **"HOW DO YOU KNOW?! SHE STILL BIT SWINTON! OH MY GOSH SHE'S BANGING AGAINST THE DOORS LIKE A MANIAC, HURRY UP I'M SCARED!"**_

"Judy and I brought her here, remember? We saw how she acted, she doesn't want trouble! And anyway, she can't do much right now, she's muzzled... stay where you are and keep an eye on her!"

When Nick and Judy finally arrived at the scene, Clawhauser was hiding behind his reception desk, and the muzzled child was banging against the door, crying in the distance. She snapped her head at them when she heard steps. The fox and the rabbit looked into the terrified eyes of the child who had a huge polar bear muzzle strapped around her head. The wolf officer took the first muzzle he could get his hands off, and it was so big it fit the child's whole face, making it hard for her to see clearly through the forced caged vision. As she reconized the officers who chased her, and probably brought her here, she ran away into another hall.

"WAIT!" Judy yelled and ran after her with Nick not too far behind.

The child was mumbling and whining to herself, increasing the worries of the animals.

"Please, we just want to help you!" Judy tried to sound reassuring.

The kid turned a corner and kept running until she came face to face with a dead end. She turned around and the two officers had slowed down.

She was sobbing loudly, her little heart pattering against her ribcage.

Nick took a step towards her.

Fauna only shrieked loudly, both Judy and Nick flinched in surprise. Fauna fell backwards, landing roughly on her behind and quickly crawled away from the animals until her back hit the wall.

She was trapped.

That's when she finally spoke with a little voice: " _Please don't hurt me..._ "

"We're not gonna hurt you, I promise." Nick said with a soothing voice.

Fauna was breathing heavily.

Nick looked at her with compassion, having the impression to see his younger self being muzzled: "I'm gonna get that muzzle off of your face, okay?"

Fauna was still panting, her eyes on Nick, not moving, but shaking like a leaf.

Nick slowly approached her. Fauna looked into his green eyes. He wasn't mean. He wasn't gonna hurt her.

She knew it. She _felt it._

He was telling her something. She was too deep in thought when Nick got the muzzle out of her face and threw it on the other side of the hall.

"There we go. Feels better, isn't?"

Fauna looked at the fox. She was still panting and her eyes were puffy and red from crying.

Nick was quick to reassure her: "Don't worry, kid. I don't bite... coming from a fox with sharp teeth, it sounds weird, I know." he chuckled nervously when the kid didn't answer, and looked back at Judy who looked at him with a _'really?'_ glare.

Nick sighed and looked back at the little girl: "Poor kid, you must've been through the wringer, am I right?"

Fauna looked down and nodded.

Judy approached the child and kneeled to get at her height: "Don't worry, anymore. You're safe here. And we're gonna help you."

Fauna looked into the purple eyes of the rabbit. For a second, her own heterochromic ones had a small glimpse of hope into them.

"But for that, we're gonna need you to talk to us, okay?"

Before Fauna could even say anything...

"Hopps, Wilde!"

Nick and Judy turned around at Chief Bogo's voice but Fauna only froze in fear. He was big, bulky and spoke in a deep baritone voice that made him look 10 times bigger than he was.

"You found the creature?"

Fauna understood he was referring to her.

"Yes... she's willing to talk." Nick said.

"Good."

"So, does that mean we'll get to interrogate her?" Judy asked.

"Guide her into the interrogation room, and leave her there afterwards, I'll take care of the rest."

"Seriously, Chief?" Nick said.

"End of the story."

"I will only talk to the bunny and the fox!"

The eyes of Bogo, Nick and Judy widened at the sudden voice and turned to look at Fauna.

"Your other officers scared me and muzzled me! That's the least you could do..."

After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Chief Bogo let out a sigh.

* * *

Fauna sat into a large cubic interrogation room. The interrogation table was large, since Nick and Judy were the smallest officers from the ZPD and the other officers were mostly large animals.

The chair was so large, Fauna had to kneel on it to see on the other side, where Judy had to be standing on the chair so she could see over the table, otherwise having the bunny sit down would only make Fauna see her ears.

"I don't know where my partner is, it won't be long... hopefully." Judy said the last part under her breath.

Fauna twirled a strand of her hair around her finger, her head in the clouds, trying to focus on something else than her sticky situation. But let's just say it was too big to simply ignore...

"Sorry for biting the pig officer..." Fauna said to Judy. "She tried to force me out of the cell, and... I panicked."

Judy gave her a warm smile: "Don't worry about it. I know Swinton can be a bit... rough sometimes. But that's only when she has a bad day... but she'll understand, and she'll be fine..."

The door opened and Nick entered the room: "Here I am, just needed to get something."

He climbed on the other giant chair next to Judy.

"So, kid..."

Fauna looked at the fox.

"And you hungry?"

Fauna nodded.

"There."

He threw a tin foil package. Fauna recognized it as the fish hot dog she tried to steal. She felt uncomfortable.

"You need to eat. Go ahead! It's alright, I paied it."

Fauna opened the foil and in less than a minute, the fish hot dog was gone down the girl's digestive system.

"Wow... you really were hungry." Judy smiled.

"Mmm... it was so good." Fauna smiled, wiping the crumbles of bread from her mouth.

"I even brought you a dessert..."

Nick showed her a tiny popsicle in the shape of a paw: "It's a pawpsicle. It's cherry-flavored."

"Thank you, Fuzzy." Fauna grabbed the popsicle and took a bite. While she thought how great the popsicles from another dimension tasted like, Nick was dumbfounded at the name she got for him.

Judy snorted and covered her laughs getting out of her mouth with her paw: "Fuzzy? Hahaha! How cuuuute!"

"Uh... I'm gonna ask you not to call me Fuzzy, please." Nick said, trying to stay friendly to the kid, but gave a discrete irritated glare at Judy since she wouldn't stop laughing.

"Then what's your name? My name is Fauna Delfino, I'm 9 years old. Kids at my school call me the 'freak show', sometimes, because of my clothes. But I don't care."

Nick cleared his throat: "I'm Nick, and this..." he gave a little elbow shove on Judy's arm, making her stop laughing as she gave one right back at him, but stronger. "... is Judy."

Nick winced and rubbed his sore arm, mentally complaining about his friend's strength before turning back to glare at the little girl: "Now back to the point... what type of species are you, kid?"

Fauna got the pawpsicle out of her mouth: "I'm a human." she said as a matter of fact.

" _A human?!_ " Nick and Judy frowned in unison.

"H-U-M-A-N." Fauna spelled it out for Judy.

"A human..." Judy repeated under her breath and wrote the informations down. Never as she or her partner heard of that species.

"I guess there are no humans here, right?" Fauna said what she already knew.

"Well if there is, we don't know. We never saw anyone like you before. But to be honest, I don't think there is."

Fauna sighed and went back to her half-eaten pawpsicle.

"Where do you come from, Fauna?" .

After she was done with the frozen treat, Fauna got the wooden red-tinted popsicle stick out of her mouth and sighed, crossing her arms on the table and laying her chin in them: "It's gonna sound totally crazy... well... speaking to animals is already crazy, so..."

"What do you mean?" Judy asked.

Fauna took a deep breath: "I come from another dimension."

There was a moment of silence.

"Wait, what?" Nick asked flatly, not believing what he just heard.

"My daddy is a scientist. He created a machine to travel into other dimensions and..."

Fauna gulped when she thought about the monster ape: "... a monster pushed me into the machine."

"A monster?" Judy asked.

 _ **What's the thing with monsters, today?**_ Nick thought to himself.

"Yes. A giant, big, furry black beast with red eyes. He kidnapped me, put me into the machine and because of him, I ended up here and I can't get back home."

"Uhh..." Nick didn't know what to say.

Fauna sighed in frustration: "I knew you wouldn't believe me... how great is that? I'm stuck in a talking animal city, and no one will help me!"

While Fauna was complaining, Judy took a look at the blue dolphin necklace Fauna had around her neck. The vibrant blue color told her something... it had the same color than the blue blast that almost got her and Nick in a car accident.

"Wait a minute..." Judy said, before getting her phone out and snapping a pic of the child's dolphin-shaped jewel. "What she says makes more sense than we think! Fauna, when did you get here?"

"I woke up this morning in the middle of a forest."

"Taiga Plaza... did you meet an annoying mouthy weasel there?" Nick asked.

"Yes... he threw berries at me and he ran away screaming when he saw me."

"Well, that explains a lot..." the fox deducted, adding his personal touch of sarcasm.

"What time was it when the... monster pushed you into the machine?" Judy asked.

"It was... late evening, or so."

"Like when the blue blast hit the sky!" Judy smiled at her deduction.

"What?" Nick frowned.

"Think about it, Nick. _She's_ the blue blast!" she pointed Fauna's necklace, and Nick thought for a few moments, before remembering the blue beam that flew over their car and gave both of them a heart attack.

"The... the blue blast. Of course! That was you!"

"The blue blast?" Fauna tilted her head to the side in confusion.

"Last night, when you got here, it had a crazy weather, with rough winds and thunder. And we saw a blue beam fly at full speed in the sky... like a shooting star." Judy explained.

"Yeah... that explains why my head hurt when I woke up. The landing must've been rough, but I don't remember anything between being knocked out in the machine and waking up in the forest. Wait... did you say thunder?"

"Yeah, why?"

Fauna thought for a while: "It rained too in my dimension, when the monster pushed me into the machine... so that means the weather must link the two dimensions! That's it! That's why I got here!"

Judy and Nick looked at Fauna after she gave a perfect good deduction. Surprising, but logical.

"Ugh, I sound like my dad..."

Fauna sighed, and looked down. Sobs broke the silence in the room and Fauna looked at the two officers who had compassion all over their face when they saw she was crying.

"I... I miss him. I just... I want to go home."

Judy and Nick looked at eachother briefly, a sad expression on both their faces.

Judy put a gentle paw on the arm of the little girl: "Don't worry, Fauna. We're gonna help you!"

"Really?" Fauna's eyes lit up.

"Of course! Right, Nick?" Judy said.

"Count on us!" Nick gave her a smile, but Fauna's quickly faded:

"But... how am I gonna get back home? Do you have a machine?"

"I don't think so..." Nick said honestly.

"I have an idea! How about we go back in Taiga Plaza at the place where you landed and look for clues?" Judy said.

Fauna smiled: "You're really gonna help me?"

"We told you, kid!"

Fauna got down the chair, as the officers did the same, and she hugged the both of them: "Thank you very much!"

Judy and Nick both looked at eachother in surprise, but they both smiled.

A knock on the door interrupted the moment: "Hopps, Wilde!"

Fauna gulped: "Is that the buffalo?"

Judy nodded: "Yup, that's Chief Bogo, our boss."

"He scares me." Fauna whispered to the rabbit.

Nick smirked and thought of a line to reassure the human child: "Don't worry about it, he's actually the biggest sweetheart ever. The proof, he likes pop music!"

"I heard that, Wilde!"

Fauna giggled and Nick opened the door to come face to face with his always irritated boss who looked at him with crossed arms: "Hey, Chief. What made you pay a visit?"

Bogo sighed at his fox officer's snark that got on his nerves, before turning his glare to Fauna: "Say, uh... child. You don't mind if I borrow my officers for a few moments?" he asked her in the most gentle way both Judy and Nick has ever heard him talk.

Fauna shook her head no, and both Nick and Judy got out of the room.

"We'll be right back!" Judy said quickly as the door close.

"So, what is she?" Bogo asked as he brought his officers a bit away from the door, in the corner of the hall.

"Her name is Fauna Delfino, she's 9, and she states to be a... _human_ , if I remember correctly." Judy said.

"A... a human? What the heck is a human?!"

"Yeah, we had the same reaction... she comes from another dimension."

Bogo looked at Nick with a total stunned face: "That's the most stupidest thing I've ever heard you say until now, Wilde."

"As crazy as it sounds, it's the truth! Remember the blue blast, last night, Chief?"

"Yes, I saw, and it's everywhere on the news... why do you ask, Hopps?"

She showed him the picture of the blue crystal necklace she took with her cellphone: "Well, it wasn't a shooting star... it was _her_."

Bogo put his glasses over the bridge of his snout to take a better look at the picture, and took them off afterwards: "I must admit I don't get where all of this is going..."

"Basically, the child was sent from her dimension to ours! The weather here is the same than her weather, so she came out from the sky when it was thundering." Judy explained.

"Pfff, HA! That's totally ridiculous, I don't believe any of this!" Bogo huffed.

"Really? How do you explain her appearance and her presence here, then, Chief?" Nick said.

Bogo thought for a few seconds, and sighed: "Okay, let's _pretend_ all of this is true... now what?"

"We got to send her back home... she has a family, there." Judy said,

"And how do we do that?" Bogo asked.

"We got to open a case." Judy said.

"A case of what?"

"Kidnapping." Nick answered.

Bogo's eyes became round: "Kid... kidnapping?! Did she kidnap someone?!"

"What? No! _She_ was kidnapped and sent here against her will! By some creature she didn't know the species..." Nick said.

"Really?" Bogo asked, and both officers nodded.

"Well... I guess we have ourselves another case, then."

"Please Chief, let us take it!" Judy put her paws together, begging.

"Hopps-"

"Chief, the child trusts us, and think about it... the sooner we take care of it, the sooner she's gone. And also... we won't be anywhere near you for a while." Nick said with his usual smirk.

Bogo closed his eyes and sighed.

"Even though the both of you get on my nerves on a daily basis, you still saved Zootopia from Bellwether's conspiracy. I know what you are capable of..."

Judy and Nick both had hopeful looks as Bogo seemed deep in thought.

"Fine. You can take the case."

"YES!" Judy hopped in joy before high-fiving Nick.

"But that's only because I'm sick of seeing your lazy face, Wilde!"

"Thank you, Chief!" Nick said as Bogo walked away.

Judy squealed and grabbed Nick's hands, jumping up and down: "We have a case, Nick! I told you we'd have another chance!"

"Okay, relax, Carrots. Keep jumping like that and you'll make us pounce through the ceiling!"

"I know, sorry... ah, forget it, I'm just so happy!"

Nick smiled at her happiness. Judy smiled back at him. After a moment of looking at eachother, both realized they were still holding hands and pulled away awkwardly.

Nick cleared his throat: "Uh... we should tell the good news to Fauna!"

"Yeah, let's go!"

Judy entered the interrogation room where Fauna was laying on the huge chair, her feet dangling down, bored while she was left alone and watching the cracks in the ceiling. She sat as she heard them come in.

She jumped on the ground and joined them.

"Good news! We have the permission to investigate in Taiga Plaza tomorrow. We'll help you take you home!" Judy smiled.

Fauna gasped and smiled, hugging the officers: "THANK YOU VERY MUCH! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! I'M GONNA SEE MY DADDY AGAIN!"

Nick smiled and patted the child's head. The animals got out of the police department minutes later. Even though it was getting dark, Fauna still decided to hide her face with her hood. She was enough traumatized by her status as the sole human in Zootopia for the day.

As she walked, she held Judy's hand. From afar, it looked like _she_ was the adult and _Judy_ was the child, since the bunny was obviously smaller than her, reaching around her ribs. Fauna was always used at being the smaller one, everywhere she went, from her father's lab full of adults, to her own elementary school where she was the smallest kid. While they were all around 4 feet, Fauna was barely 3'7.

So being Zootopia made Fauna feel weird, since she felt small because of the giant animals, but also tall at the same time, with the mice of Little Rodentia and Judy.

"Wait... I just thought of something... it's getting night. Where am I gonna sleep?" Fauna asked.

"Well, she can't sleep at my place... it's too tiny." Judy said.

"I have enough place in my apartment... don't worry about getting a place to sleep, kid. You can come over to my place too, Carrots."

"What?"

"We leave tomorrow at the first hour. We will leave fast so we can have all the time we need, so we have to be ready at the same time!"

Fauna smiled a toothy grin revealing a gap between her teeth.

Nick observed Fauna's teeth for a while. She had a special set of teeth. She had small canines like a predator, but also flat teeth that meant she ate plants too, like a prey: "Say, kid, I forgot to ask you... are you a prey or a predator?"

Fauna frowned: "What?"

"What he means is... do you... eat meat or plants, let's say." Judy explained to the child.

"Uh... both?"

"Both a prey and a predator, uh? Well, one thing is sure, kid... I feel like we're not gonna be bored with you."

A drop of water tipped on Nick's nose.

"Ah, great... hurry up before the rain gets us..."

* * *

While Nick, Judy and Fauna were running away from the rain, during that time, the sky in Zootopia was getting cloudly. A lightning was briefly seen as thunder rumbled.

Over the mountains that was quite a gorgeous view from Zootopia, a hole opened itself in the sky, circled by clouds and violent wind, and a dark shadow fell, not making a single sound as he was in a free fall. Seconds later, he landed on the ground in a loud racket as the earth underneath his feet cracked.

The black-furred ape creature growled: "This place might be huge, little girl. But no matter where you are... we will get you."

He let out a short spine-chilling evil laugh and jumped his way towards the animal city, a plan forming itself in the depths of his twisted mind.

* * *

 **The monster ape is back! :O**

 **What does he want from Fauna? What did he mean by 'we'?**

 **See it soon enough in another chappie!**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I'm quite proud of it, since I staid up late to update it! I adored writing this chapter, I love writing the interactions between Fauna, Nick and Judy!**

 **Speaking of the latter two, I put a brief Wildehopps moment hehehe :P I don't know how to feel about them tbh... Like, I love their platonic interactions, but they have such a great chemistry at the same time...**

 **So yeah, I half ship it, let's say it like that XD**

 **I had some reviews for that story (yayy!) and I'd like to thank you for your support! It really means a lot! ^^**

 **Love you guys,**

 **Riri xx**


	5. Troubled Waters

"Aaand there we are! Mi casa es su casa!"

Nick closed the door behind him as Judy and Fauna looked around. The child held her hands, slightly crouched in a shy position as she looked around the apartment that was huge for a human child like her.

And if it was huge for _her,_ it was definitely huge for the smaller Judy.

"Wow... your apartment is definitely bigger than mine! And you live all by yourself?!" Judy said, taking a look around.

"Yup, miss! Okay, the kitchen is small, but I have two rooms and a proper bathroom! Make yourselves at home. That goes for you too, Fauna."

The kid looked at Nick: "I thought foxes lived in burrows..."

Nick and Judy looked at the child for a moment, before the former let out a small laugh at the child: "Maybe a thousand of years ago, but it evolved since, Fauna."

"R-Right, I mean... you _talk_ too, so."

"You seem surprised to see us talk..." Judy realized.

Fauna looked at them before sitting on the couch: "Yeah... let's just say it's not every day I get to travel in dimensions! Even with the type of father I have..."

"Is there animals in your dimension?" Nick asked with curiosity, before throwing his keys in a bowl made for it and looking through his fridge.

"Of course! But... they're... how can I say that without offending you..."

"Not evolved?" Judy smiled, sitting next to the child.

"Yeah. They don't talk, I can tell you that... I mean, I do talk to them, but they don't answer, since they're mainly feral. People can me a freak show because of it."

"Why would you talk to them if you know they can't answer you?" Nick asked before going back to the fridge.

Fauna shrugged: "Even though they can't speak... I feel like they have a soul. That they _listen._ I don't know. I just... in my dimension... humans are kinda like you in your dimension. We evolved from the monkeys, and-"

"Wait a minute, kid... a _what_?"

"A monkey." Fauna repeated as a matter of fact, frowning at the rabbit's confused face. "Wait, you don't have monkeys either, in your dimension?"

"I don't know what that is, sorry." Judy shrugged.

"Same goes for me." Nick said from the fridge, picking up a bottle of soda for himself. "Hey Cottontail, I have some carrot juice if you want."

"Oh, haha. I'm a bunny, so everything concerning me is carrot-themed, uh?" Judy said. After a moment of silence, she grumbled: "Throw me the bottle."

Nick smirked and threw the bottle of carrot juice to the unamused rabbit: "I knew it."

Fauna thought to herself during that time: "Of course. If humans never existed, then monkeys never existed either, since humans used to be prehistoric monkeys..."

Nick and Judy looked at each other in confusion, then back at the thinking child. _She's really something_ , both seem to say to eachother through their eyes. Even though she was weird in appearance, she was still a child, and she really was smart and mature for her age.

"Um, you want some water, kid?"

Fauna got out of her thoughts and looked at the fox: "Oh... yes, please! I'm parched!"

Nick sat on the other side of the couch next to Fauna, and gave the child a water bottle. She was drinking in hurry the bottle under the eyes of the rabbit and the fox.

"Woah, you really are thirsty!" Judy smiled, drinking her carrot juice.

Fauna stopped drinking for a moment: "Yeah..."

"So, where were you at, kid? You were talking about... a monkey, or I don't know..." Nick said.

"Oh, right! So, humans evolved from an animal you don't seem to have called a monkey. It looks like a human, but with more fur, except for the hands, feet and face, and it can't speak. But they're really smart. They can communicate with us with sign language, and they use tools with branches and rocks for their survival!"

"That's... pretty cool." Judy was confused by what the child was saying, but seeing the way the child was talking about her dimension, the pure glee and pride of knowledge in the child's face warmed her heart.

As for Nick, his curious nature was thirsty of knowledge when it came to listening to the origins of this new species from another dimension.

"Anyway, we evolved... we wear clothes, are civilized, but..." she sighed. "... sometimes that give people the right to do anything they way without thinking about the consequences."

Nick scoffed: "Kid, we could tell you stories..."

Fauna sighed and hugged her knees: "I don't know if I should tell you that..."

"Tell us what?"

"Since animals don't talk... people think they don't _feel._ And... my daddy is a scientist. And they test all kind of things on animals... for science."

Judy gasped: "What kind of things?"

"I don't know... they test things on them to see if they'll be okay for humans. Like... shampoos, and cosmetics."

"What... kind of animals?" Nick asked worringly.

"Rats, pigs, bunnies and a lot more of animals..."

Judy put a paw on her mouth: "That's awful!"

"Tell me about it! Before I was sent here... I freed the animals, and my dad wasn't happy. We fought over it. I couldn't believe he just let things like that happen. And after, he said..."

Fauna's heart tightened at the thought of her mother. It hit her right in the heart. She forgot about it, and now that she remembered she truly was gone, she felt a huge feeling of sorrow hit her.

"What?"

Fauna tried hard not to cry: "I'm tired. Can I go to bed, now?"

Nick and Judy looked at eachother in confusion and worry, but they didn't oppose.

Nick cleared his throat in awkwardness: "O-Of course. You can sleep in the guest room. Judy, you'll take my room."

"Woah, what? You want me to sleep in your room?"

"Hey, I can't let you sleep on the couch! What kind of host would that make me?"

Judy discretly smiled at the gentleman move while Nick guided Fauna to the guest room.

"That's where my mother usually sleeps when she comes here. I got the sheets washed." Nick said, before realizing Fauna seemed absent: "Hey, you okay?"

Fauna snapped out of it, and looked at the fox: "Y-Yeah. I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

Judy looked at Nick, and entered the room with a pink T-Shirt: "Hey... I brought a pajama shirt for you. You may be taller than me, but... it's too large anyway, I thought it might fit you."

Fauna held the T-Shirt in her hands: "Thanks, Judy. Thanks, Nick. I appreciate what you're doing for me."

Judy cracked a smile and went to Nick's side: "We'll do everything to bring you back home, sweetie."

Fauna smiled for a brief moment, before turning her head around and looking at the window.

"Good night, kid. We'll investigate tomorrow early, so... sleep well tonight."

Fauna heard the sound of the door closing behind her. She let out a huge sigh before crashing on the bed. She took off her dirty clothes off, and put the clean T-shirt on.

 _ **It's so weird... I'm wearing a bunny's T-shirt!**_

Fauna entered the covers and snuggled her head against the pillow. The rain was still pouring hard outside, making the raindrops tapping against the window one by one the only sound in the room.

Thoughts were fighting inside the child's head. Even after the misadventure she lived today, she still had difficulty believing her situation. That will be one heck of a story to tell to her father when she gets back home.

 _If she gets back home..._

She sighed. She met a nice bunny and a nice fox that will help her. They said it themselves! Now, she just had to sleep.

But Fauna couldn't. It was so easy in the hippos' car, though... and she was currently in a real bed. So why not now?

Fauna looked at the bedside table. She saw a picture of a young Nick wearing a scout's uniform, with her mother behind her holding his shoulders with a sweet smile on her face.

Her lips trembled at the thought of her own mother and Fauna cried silently in the pillow, spilling out every tear her eyes could produce until she fell asleep, exhausted.

* * *

 _A warm breeze hit her face. She took a deep breath, and smelled a pleasant odor of flowers and fresh air. She opened her eyes, letting out a groan and looked around her. She was in a field filled with flowers. She looked down on herself. She was wearing a white dress with ruffles. The sky had orange and pink colors; the sun was going down._

 _It was such a peaceful weather._

 _A blue butterfly gently posed itself on the bridge of her nose and Fauna giggled as it tickled her. It flew away and she ran after it. The butterfly suddenly posed itself on a finger._

 _Fauna stopped mid-race as a gentle smile welcomed her._

 _"Mommy?"_

 _She let out her usual angelic laugh._

 _"Mommy!"_

 _She ran towards her mother._

 _"I knew it! I knew you weren't really gone!"_

 _But as she reached her mother, the hand took the blue butterfly and crushed it. Fauna stopped and gasped._

 _That's not my mommy!_

 _Her mother's eyes changed into a bright red color as the irises become pitch black and her mother morphed into its real shape._

 _Fauna wanted to scream, but nothing came out of her mouth. She wanted to run away, but she felt like running in butter as the monster approached her closer._

 _She fell on the ground and turned around, panting._

 _"Daddy...!" she managed to slip._

 _"You'll never see your daddy again!" the monster said in its sinister voice. "But I can help you with your mother!"_

 _Fauna shrieked as the monster lurched with its mouth wide opened with sharp teeth aimed at her face._

* * *

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Nick woke up in a start and fell off the couch.

"Ouch!"

He heard another shriek, coming from the guest room.

"Fauna?"

He stood up on his paws and ran towards the room where the human child was, where he bumped into Judy.

"What's going on?" the frantic bunny asked.

"I don't know, I just woke up!"

"What are we waiting for!" Judy opened the door and both animals were heartbroken to see a shouting Fauna looking frantically around her, clutching unto her face for dear life.

"Fauna!"

Judy jumped on the bed and grabbed Fauna's cheeks between her paws: "Calm down, sweetie."

Fauna stopped shouting and looked at the bunny with her heterochromic eyes full of fear and tears.

"It's okay, take deep breaths..."

Fauna took a deep breath, and sniffed: "It looked so real..."

"What looked so real?"

"T-This monster... the one that brang me here... h-he ate me!"

"It's okay, Fauna. It was just a nightmare. You're safe, here."

"I-I... I wanna go home! I just want my daddy!"

She burst into another set of sobs as the bunny held her close, gently caressing her curly brown hair to comfort her.

"It looked so real... it looked so real... it looked so real..."

Judy looked at Nick with soft eyes. Nick sent back an apologetic glare and looked back at the crying kid.

"Do you want us to leave you alone?" Judy asked.

"No! Please... I don't want to be alone!" the child wouldn't let go of the rabbit.

"Okay... do you want me to leave you with Judy?"

Fauna looked at Nick with trembling lips: "Please stay, Fuzzy."

At the moment, Nick was too worried about the child to mind her calling him 'Fuzzy' again. He sat by the end of the bed.

Thirty minutes later, the child finally fell asleep in Judy's arms.

Nick sighed: "What. Just. Happened?"

"Poor sweetheart..." Judy said, gently caressing the child's head. "She lived so much just within a day!"

The rabbit looked at Nick, her purple eyes shining: "We got to send her back home, Nick."

Nick took a deep breath: "I know, Carrots. But... what if we can't?"

Judy looked at Fauna to be sure she was asleep, thereofore so she couldn't hear: "Nick!"

"What, I'm not being pessimistic, but just realistic, here! She came from a hole in the sky!" he whispered not to wake Fauna up. "What if there's nothing we can do?"

"Let's go to the place she landed first. There's surely clues. And believe me, Nick. I'll do whatever it takes to send this kid back home."

Nick looked at Judy for a few moments. He knew her. Since the Nighthowler case, both mammals grow close and were best friends. Nick knew that when Judy finds an objective, she'll do whatever it takes to achieve it. And being a big sister to a hundred of siblings, she had a very powerful maternal instinct.

And by what the fox just witnessed, she basically just posed herself as the kid's surrogate mother.

"I know. Me too." Nick didn't know what else to say.

"Tomorrow's gonna be a long day. We need to sleep..."

A few minutes later, the bunny, the fox and the human child in between were peacefully sleeping.

Unknown to all of them, the dolphin necklace of the child wore around her neck was shining a light blue, until it faded as the rain stopped pouring.

* * *

 ***A/N***

 **Hey! Sorry for the wait! I really hope you liked the chapter!**

 **I loved writing the dream sequence! Poor Fauna... you can't help but feel bad for her. It's hard for me because I'm trying to portray her as a realistic child, but at the same time she's more mature for her age. So I'm trying to make a proper balance you know XD**

 **I'll try to update as soon as possible! And you'll discover the meaning of the dolphin necklace soon ;)**

 **Riri xx**


	6. We Are Not Alone

***A/N***

 **Hey! Yup, I'm alive, don't worry XD**

 **Sorry for not updating, I got so busy with school and my new job that I completely forgot about this story. (SHAME ON ME)**

 **Now I updated because so many of you requested it! I'm really flattered that you like this story as much as I like to write it :)**

 **Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 **Riri xx**

* * *

Fauna had her cheek pressed against the palm of her hand. She was in the back of Judy and Nick's police car, watching the scenery as the animals were driving towards Taiga Plaza, hoping to find the place where Fauna landed so they could find a solution to help her go back home. She sighed, listening to Gazelle's song through Judy's MP3 player that strangely looked like her old iPod, but since this world was filled with animal-like puns, she didn't know how it was actually called. In fact she didn't care. She kept repeating 'Try Everything' on replay. She would indeed try everything to go back home.

Nick was driving, Judy looking at Fauna by the rear-view mirror over her head.

"She didn't say one word since her nightmare, yesterday night."

Nick looked at the bunny.

"I'm worried for her, Nick."

Nick sighed: "I know. Me too."

The two mammals staid the night with Fauna after her nightmare. When they woke up, Nick tried to be his usual joking self and made pancake to Fauna. Judy was as sweet as could be. But Fauna plunged herself into silence for the second time since her arrival at Zootopia.

"She was talking again. What if she goes mute once more?"

"Don't overthink it, Judy. She's a child. I would make traumatizing nightmares about muzzles when I was her age, and I wouldn't want to talk to anyone."

"Really?" the purples eyes of the bunny looked at Nick, filled with worry and compassion.

Before Nick could answer...

"My mother is dead."

The two mammals spun their heads. Fauna had put the iPod aside, but she was still looking at the window. It meant that she had stopped listening to music a while ago and listened to their conversation.

"She left on a trip for her job when I was younger. Her plane crashed, and they never found her. I learned she died yesterday."

"How come?" Judy asked.

Fauna's lips trembled, a lump forming in her throat: "My father lied to me. He said she would come back."

Judy's head shook from side to side, not believing what the child just said. How could a father lie on something this big to his own daughter?

Before she could say anything to comfort her, Nick patted her arm: "Carrots... we're here. Taiga Plaza."

Fauna shifted in the leather seats. Going back to the place she found herself after being thrown in that machine, she felt her stomach getting tighter, and she gulped. She was nervous.

"I recognize that cabin." She said.

"It's the tourist information center." Judy explained. "Park the car, Nick."

After Nick parked the car, the human child, the fox and the bunny then proceeded to get out of it, slamming the doors behind them.

"What do we do, now?" Fauna asked.

"You need to remember the specific place where you woke up... can you do that?" Judy asked kindly, but in a clear way so Fauna could understand.

"Uhh... I need to think."

Fauna walked a few steps forwards, and stood still, looking at her surroundings, trying to put herself back into her situation 24 hours earlier. She got here because she was looking for help after falling on Weaselton. And Weaselton ran away to end up where she was standing from...

"There!" Fauna pointed in front of her, to her left. She started to run in that specific direction.

"Hey, kid, wait!" Nick started to run after the brunette, Judy soon following.

For a few minutes, Fauna was walking in front of her, determinate. Judy and Nick exchanged a glare. If Fauna knew where she was going, it was a good sign. They would find where she landed faster than they thought. And they didn't complain. The sooner the child was home, the better.

Then she gradually stopped.

"Fauna?" Nick frowned.

She spun around: "I came out from the forest to the right, but I don't know at what point."

"It's... it's fine. We'll walk and see where it leads us. Right, Nick?" Judy said, hopefully.

Nick sent her a glare, his mouth in a thin shut line. He wasn't as optimistic as Judy was, but he kept it to himself not to disappoint Fauna.

As the three of them walked into the forest, Nick sighed. He hoped to find a way to bring Fauna back home as soon as possible. But if they did get where she landed... now what?

"IT'S HERE!"

Nick's thoughts were interrupted when Fauna ran until she reached a pine tree with a large trail of dug dirt. The place she landed less than 24 hours ago. She ran in front of it, doing a little victory dance, making the officers smile at her innocence.

"We found it! We found it!" she sang along in a victorious tone.

"Be careful, Fauna! It's considered as a... crime scene, basically. Since it's where you've landed after your kidnapping. So try to be careful with the 'evidences'." Nick explained.

"Oh, right, sorry!" she ran back towards the officers. "So... what now?"

"We're looking for clues." Judy answered.

"Can I help?"

"It's... better if you let that to us." Nick explained to the kid, since it was the job of professionals.

"Aww." Fauna pouted, which made both Judy and Nick feel bad, but they quickly got back into their cop mode and started to look for clues.

After a moment of investigation, Fauna got from thrilled to bored. She was currently sitting on a rock, drawing on the bark of a tree with a sharp stick, trying to kill time. She turned her head and stood up when she realized the two mammals stopped looking and Judy was writing in her notebook.

"So?"

"Well... we don't know, to be honest. It looks like a normal fall, there's no sign of blue in the dirt, or something like that..." Nick scratched the back of his furry head.

"Ah." Fauna looked down. She was optimistic, but looks like they were back at square one.

"However..."

Her hope didn't completely die down as Judy spoke once more.

"... the blast of blue was seen by a lot of Zootopians. Right now, it's the only thing they talk about on the news."

Judy got out a map of Zootopia out of her pocket. She unwrapped it, and it was bigger than her.

"Where did you get that from?" the fox asked.

"I always come prepared, Nick!" Judy smiled at her partner's confused face, which made Fauna giggle.

She clicked open her carrot pen and sticked the map on Nick's back, making the fox grunt in surprise and Fauna laugh once more, since now the map was almost entirely covering Nick.

"See, if we are completely exact according to my compass, we aaaaare..." Judy reflected, joining graphs individual on the maps. "... here!" she made a small dot with her pen on a specific point in Taiga Plaza, and circled it, using Nick as a support for the map.

"On my rib." Nick flatly said as a matter of fact.

Judy ignored her partner's sarcastic comment, and looked at Fauna: "All we need to do, is follow back the specific path from the blast starting from where you landed... until it brings us to the point in the sky where it opened for you to enter our dimension."

A cricket chirp could be heard repeatedly, emphasizing the silence.

"Okay, that is too cliché." Nick commented about the sound, and got the map away from him with struggle, grabbing it with his paw and looking briefly at Judy.

"Could you... excuse us for a moment, kid?" Nick smiled at Fauna, and used the map to hide him and Judy from the girl, who tilted her head on the side in bewilderment.

"Are you serious? It's gonna take forever! Days, weeks, probably months! And what makes you think it will lead us somewhere?" Nick whispered, hoping Fauna wouldn't hear.

"Do you have a better idea? It's the only lead we have! Also, who said it would be easy! Nick, we don't know where this case will take us, but let's hope for the best, okay? We don't do this for ourselves, remember?" Judy whispered back.

Nick got the map down and took a look at Fauna, who may not have heard everything, but got the mood of the conversation by herself; that is to say, not positive. She blinked, her heterochromic eyes glossy and lips formed into a light pout.

Nick sighed: "Okay. We're done for now."

"What are we gonna do?" the little girl asked, rubbing her hands nervously.

"We're gonna try and find as many footages of the blast possible to get the specific points of location you fell from. Don't worry, Fauna. We will get you home." Judy said with her usual determination.

Nick sighed. He _did_ wanted to bring Fauna back home, and he would do anything for it. But he was more realistic than Judy.

 _ **She came down from a**_ **hole in the sky** _ **, for crying out loud! How are we gonna send her back there? In a rocket?**_

As the mammals and the animals were getting out of the forest, the cricket was still chirping, until a giant furless foot crushed it. A growl was faintly heard when the foot leaped forward.

* * *

This time, Judy was driving as Nick was looking into the rear-view mirror, smiling at Fauna's sleeping figure.

"She's adorable when she sleeps."

Judy smiled: "Yeah. She is."

"I can't believe people thought this sweet kid was a monster. I know the feeling..."

Judy sighed: "I'm sorry."

"About what?" Nick frowned.

"I can't believe I thought you were a threat. Back when we were doing the Night Howler case..."

Nick sighed: "Hey. Don't worry about it, Carrots. It's in the past, now. And also... I wasn't aware of your story with Gideon Grey. So don't beat yourself, okay?"

Judy smiled.

Fauna then woke up, groaning while sitting up and rubbing her eyes: "Are we there, yet?"

Nick laughed: "A question no kid ever asked on a road trip."

"In less than half an hour." Judy answered.

Fauna stretched: "I didn't do any nightmares..."

"That's good."

Fauna looked through the window: "I must admit... this place is really pretty."

Nick nodded: "Yup. The view is a quite a thing, here."

Fauna's eyes looked around randomly outside, trying to discover new parts of the scenery to analyze. While she's still here, she can enjoy the view, right? Her eyes fell on the right rear-view mirror and a loud gasp left her mouth when she saw _It._ Her head snapped around right away to the back windshield to be sure she wasn't hallucinating. She was panting. She didn't see him anywhere on the road.

Did her mind played a trick on her or was it really here?

And she hoped it was the number one question.

"Are you okay, Fauna?" Judy asked.

Fauna gulped: "I... I think I saw-"

She couldn't finish her sentence where a loud metallic thud could be heard over their heads. The two officers gasped and Fauna yelped.

"What the-"

Before Nick would add anything, a monstrous face appeared in the back window, making all the passengers scream.

" _Peekaboo_!" he said devilishly with a deep worrying voice as he broke the window with only a punch and grabbed Fauna by her arm before she could react.

The little girl shrieked loudly, as the monster tried to drag her with him.

"FAUNA!" Nick yelled, grabbing her ankle.

"NIIIIIIICK! HELP MEEEE!" Fauna screamed.

"OH MY GOSH!" Judy drove from right to left, trying to get rid of this monster, who was holding the back of the roof with one hand, his two feet on the rear bumper, and his other hand pulling the little girl towards him, trying to kidnap her once more.

"LET GO OF ME!" Fauna screeched, trying to get her arm out of his cold painful grip, struggling like crazy.

"LET GO OF HER, YOU PREMATURE BALDING PSYCHOPATH!" Nick snarled at the half-hairy figure, pulling Fauna towards him.

It was a risky situation. He couldn't risk to let go of Fauna's leg with one arm to grab his tranquilizing gun. The ape was strong, and if he managed to take Fauna, it would be over.

On Judy's side, she couldn't stop driving just like that. She had to get rid of this _thing_ only using her driving skills to drive away quickly. She couldn't slow down, stopping would be too risky, but she couldn't go at crazy speed either; if he would take her away, it would be too late to follow him.

 _Judy couldn't help Nick, or Fauna._

She could only switch her foot from the accelerator to the brakes, and spin the wheels from a side to the other, praying for the thing to get off so they could escape.

No matter what, neither Judy or Nick had ever seen such a hideous creature. It was like Fauna described it: it had the body structure of a 'human', but it had dark-like fur at some parts, except for its dark grey hands with black claws, which were deepened into Fauna's little arms, ready to take her away with him.

"AHHH! DON'T LET HIM TAKE ME, NICK!" Fauna yelled, scared out of her mind, as if she could read his thoughts.

 _ **Over my dead body!**_ Nick reflected angrily, his green eyes sending daggers into the dark evil red ones of the creature, who only chuckled darkly.

"You wanna fight with _me,_ Foxy?"

The creature sent him a punch into his nose, making both Judy and Fauna scream.

"NICK!" Judy screamed, powerless.

"NIIIIICK!" Fauna cried out.

Nick was seeing stars, but had a death grip on the little girl's ankle. He would _NOT_ let him take her.

"Give up, fox! She's _mine_! Say goodbye!" about to send another jab that would probably have more damages and make him let go of the ankle of the little girl.

Fauna suddenly felt a new feeling consuming her. This monster took her away from home, from her father; her only family. He kidnapped her. He made her live hell, and even invaded the deepest depths of her mind.

And now he _dared_ to harm Nick!

Fauna's brows scowled in anger as she grabbed the arm of the monster with her free hand and dug her teeth into it.

The creature roared at the pain.

"AAAAAAH! I'LL TEACH YOU, YOU LITTLE-"

That's when they had eye contact. The red angry pupils digging themselves into the innocent eyes of different color of the child, who was scared yet determined and angry, all of that at once. The dolphin on the girl's necklace then shined a bright blue light that got the ape screaming, closing his eyes and hiding them with both hands, making him fall backwards, and grunt as he fell violently on the concrete of the road due to the speed the car was moving. He tumbled a few times before its knocked out figure laid sprawled in the middle of the road.

"HE'S GONE! LET'S GET OUT OF HERE, JUDY!" Nick yelled, clutching unto Fauna, as if she would disappear by magic.

Judy didn't protest as she dug her foot into the accelerator and the police car drove away at full speed that even Flash the sloth couldn't beat, while the ape was shrinking into the rearview mirror until it disappeared.

When they reached the entry of Zootopia, Judy finally stopped the car, breaking it on the side of the road. Nick was holding Fauna close to his chest the whole time, not daring to let go. Everybody in the car was panting.

"He... he didn't follow us." Judy mumbled, a paw on her heavily beating heart, before looking at the fox and letting out a gasp at the sight of him. "N-Nick... you're bleeding!"

Nick touched his snout, and looked at his paw, which indeed had blood on it. But he didn't care. Right now, the only thing that mattered, was Fauna's well-being.

"F-Fauna? Are you okay?" he asked, worried.

Fauna looked at him, shaking, and nodded.

"What on earth was that thing?" Judy whispered to herself.

"It... looked like an ape, but... I don't know." Fauna dug her nails into Nick's shirt, traumatized.

"I thought you said animals in your dimension didn't talk!" Nick said.

"T-They don't! That's an animal I never seen!" Fauna answered in all honesty. "I... I don't even know if it's an animal! It's... it's..."

"... a _monster_." Judy completed her sentence.

"We never saw that thing either... then... does that mean... that it comes from another dimension?" Nick asked between breaths.

Fauna didn't answer.

"One thing is sure..." Judy turned the ignition key, ready to drive again. "... we know what our bad guy looks like. He's a big lead!"

"Judy's right..." Nick finally let go of Fauna, and decided to sit in the back with her in case something happened to her again. "Your kidnapper surely has motives and probably knows how to bring you back home, since he got you here in the first place."

"Because he travelled from my dimension to yours?" Fauna asked.

"Yeah, basically." Nick said, still perplexed about the whole 'dimensions' thing.

"But we don't know anything about him... and if his species _is_ into the system, then we don't have any of his DNA to look about him!" Judy sighed.

"Well... does this count for DNA?"

Nick and Judy both looked at the child and were dumbfounded to see a tuft of dark hair into her hand.

"How... how did you...?" Nick couldn't find the words.

"I ripped it from him after he hit you, so he could let go of me."

Judy and Nick laughed in joy.

"You're awesome, kid!" Nick ruffled Fauna's hair, making her laugh.

"That was a smart move, Fauna! Now we can investigate more about him!" Judy smiled, driving through Zootopia.

"Now all we need to do, is to analyze it." Nick explained, dropping the tuft into a plastic bag. "And after we need to discover why he wants to take you away so bad."

Fauna shivered at the thought of this monster.

 **Give up, fox! She's mine! Say goodbye!**

His deep savage voice resounded into her brain, making her gulp. Nick's last sentence prompted a bunch of questions to pop up inside Fauna's head.

 _ **Why does he want to get at**_ **me?** _ **What have I done to him? Why did he send me here?**_

The rest of the ride was silent as neither of the three were able to think about anything else but stop this monster.


End file.
